PELLA—The Central College women’s golf team doesn’t have to look hard for motivation heading into the 2022 fall campaign.
Last year’s squad took another big leap forward, with top-three finishes in four tournaments but a second-place showing in the American Rivers Championships left the Dutch even hungrier for the program’s first league title since 2018.
“It was crushing taking second,” coach Tabitha Schumacher said. “Losing is never fun but the players took it as a motivator. It’s easier said than done but what can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? I think they’re definitely hungry and put in the work this summer to be ready to compete and be in an even better position than last year.”
Having the entire top five return is a good start. The lineup leaders, Makenzie Biggs (junior, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) spirit Delaney Underwood (senior, Mitchellville, Colfax-Mingo HS), shared the Maurine Timmer Award as team MVP last year. It was the second MVP award for Underwood.
“They’re definitely battling for that number one spot,” Schumacher said.
For the combined fall-spring season, the team’s top four players scoring averages were closely bunched, with Underwood at 79.9, Biggs at 80.0 and Madison Clark (senior, Bloomington, Ill., Central Catholic HS) spirit Thea Lunning (senior, Mason City) at 80.7. In the fall, Biggs was the scoring leader at 79.5 with Underwood at 79.8 followed by Lunning at 80.3 and Clark at 80.5.
All four received all-league honors as well. Underwood earned the distinction for the second time, placing seventh at the league tourney, one spot behind Biggs, with Lunning placing eighth and Clark tying for 10th.
“To have four players all at 80.7 or under was great and to have two under 80 in the fall was something we were missing the year before,” Schumacher said. “Delaney and Mackenzie both have big goals they want to achieve this year and when you have multiple players with goals like that, it just makes the team atmosphere so much better. And they’re just really good players for the younger players on the team to look up to and see how to practice, how to work hard and how to get better and shave strokes off their scores.”
Schumacher wants to see even more consistency from her Biggs and Underwood.
“If you look at the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour and some of the players who have succeeded at the highest level for so long, they don’t all have their A game every single day,” she said. “They know there are just days where you’re not hitting it as well. But they still figure out a way to score and get it done.
“For Mackenzie and Delaney, I think it’s continuing that process of having confidence in their game and executing the plan that they have in place. They’re both right there.”
Lunning gave Central a huge lift when she transferred from North Iowa Area Community College last year.
“She’s done really well,” Schumacher said. “I knew looking at her scores at NIACC that she had a lot of potential. But just coming to Central and being part of a team where she’s no longer the top player every time and being pushed by her teammates has helped her a lot. You can tell she’s thrived in that environment. And she’s been a really great teammate.”
Clark made a huge leap, dropping her stroke average from 92.8 in 2020-21 to 80.7 last year. She also received all-league honors
“It’s hard to explain the improvement Madison made as she shaved 12 strokes from her average, which is a lot,” Schumacher said. “For her I think she knows that it’s just continuing to have that confidence, getting her game to a spot where she knows she’s hitting fairways and hitting greens. She’s a smart player and I think that’s helped her a lot.”
The No. 5 spot isn’t as clear cut. Peyton Bytnar (junior, Bettendorf) took 12th at the conference tournament but Avery Woods (junior, Long Grove, North Scott HS) also saw varsity action. Schumacher expects Rachel Sohn (junior, Sutherland, South O’Brien HS) spirit Lydia Grond (sophomore, Hull, Boyden-Hull HS) to contend as well. But sophomores Parker Stout (Lowden, North Cedar HS) spirit Lauren Cook (Pleasantville) hope to contribute and Schumacher said freshmen Jaden Smith (Marengo, Iowa Valley HS) spirit Courtney Boerwinkle (Fowler, Illinois, Unity HS) are still unknown.
“I haven’t seen them play a whole lot so it’s harder for me to just where they’re going to be,” Schumacher said.
While the Dutch are eager to take the next step and capture a conference crown along with the accompanying NCAA Division III tournament berth, Schumacher recognizes other league schools are also expecting improvement.
“If we’re going to play our best, we can only focus on what we’re doing,” she said. “It’s going to be tough and I think that’s a learning experience, too. At conference last year, Dubuque, the team that won, hits the ball a long way. We don’t, but I think they realized that’s OK. There are a lot of holes out there where we’re able to just play smart and do well. We just have to continue to play our own games.”
And Schumacher is OK with the league’s rising competition level.
“I want the conference to be better,” she said. “It’s going to make our team better if the conference is getting better.”
Central got a jump start on the season when several players were part of a trip to Scotland following graduation.
“I think a big thing for me is just seeing how close the team is right now,” Schumacher said. “Most of the players got to go on our spring break trip together and on our Scotland trip. And they got some extra rounds on some link-style courses which was really cool because they start making you think about trying to hit different types of shots . And it was also a bit of a grind. We played five rounds of golf in less than a week. When you’re walking thre, you’re going to be ready for the season when we’re playing two-day tournaments and three days at the conference tournament.”