The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Cory Reed Senior Martha Burkard approaches her ball on the green during a practice round at Trysting Tree. Burkard has been reliable in Oregon State's competitive lineup.

Rolling into its third tournament in only 12 days, the Oregon State University women's golf team looks to fight fatigue and stay hot as it cruises into the Lady Rebel Intercollegiate this weekend in Oxford, Miss.

The Beavers were scheduled to play the event at the University Golf Course in Oxford, but a late schedule change forced a switch to the upscale, well-kept and expertly designed local country club, where competition will begin tomorrow.

Kailin Downs, assistant coach for the team, explained the reasoning behind the change.

"They did some construction on the course," Downs said. "Because of the weather, it hasn't healed they way they wanted it to, so the event was moved to the country club."

The Beavers are in for a treat as the course was designed by world-renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio, who has more courses ranked in the top 100 than any other designer in the business.

The team remains confident after the late switch to the hilly, challenging course. This confidence stems from the team's strong play in recent days, as OSU shot low rounds in its two spring break tournaments.

At the Oregon Duck Invitational early last week, the team shot well the first day and improved in each following day to finish third overall with a final day score of 300, only five shots behind the day's best round.

Individually, junior Lauren Archer shot a solid final round of 72, which tied for the best round among all teams on the final day. She finished alone in sixth place, only seven strokes behind the leader.

"I was hitting the ball well," Archer said. "My putting got better on the second day."

The Beavers have not seen consistently solid scores from just Archer. Sophomore Cara Freeman and senior Martha Burkard have also been reliable. Rounding out OSU's leaders at the Oregon Duck Invitational are Burkard, who finished only one stroke behind Archer, and the duo of Freeman and the up-and-coming freshman Whitney French, who shot nearly identical rounds to finish in a tie for 17th.

Burkard's top-10 finish in Eugene was the sixth of her career, tying her for seventh-most all-time in school history.

Continued...

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