Photo courtesy FHSU Athletics
BY CAYDEN SANDERS
With only four golfers on the entire FHSU women’s golf roster, the 2023 spring season has been more challenging than in years past. Head Coach of the Tigers Jerol DeBoer acknowledges the difficulty of playing each tournament down a competitor.
“It has been a hard year going from the beginning of the year to now and coming down the home stretch, ”DeBoer said. “We have had to practice as a team and push ourselves to improve, especially making every point count.”
Even with the disadvantage, FHSU has managed a pair of top-ten finishes as a team this spring, including a fifth-place finish at the Holiday Inn Express Women’s Spring Regional Preview hosted by Missouri Western – the highest finish for the team all season.
A big part of the Tigers’ success is the play of junior Morgan Brasser. Last season, Brasser tore up the links, going as far as the NCAA DII national tournament, where she missed advancing to the following round by just one stroke.
“Morgan [Brasser] has put in a lot of work this season, and she has put in a lot of effort to keep succeeding at a high level,” DeBoer said.
For Brasser, her goal entering this season was to improve from last year’s marks, regardless of whether FHSU could field a full team.
“Having the setback of not having a full team is a bummer and to not have them go to the regional tournament sucks especially getting the support from my teammates while competing,” Brasser said. “I have been working on myself to keep improving. There is always something to get better, I have been really working on my short game, getting prepared for the final weeks of the season.”
Brasser has been one of the best in the region this season, winning three tournaments – the next-closest golfer only has one victory. Brasser last won at the MWSU tournament, defending her title from last year.
Brasser wants to get back to the national tournament and have a chance to be an individual playing in the later rounds.
“I have been working since last season to get back to the national stage, and that’s the goal,” Brasser said. ”I made it to the tournament last year. With the regionals up in Iowa, we have competed there, so I think I have a shot to get back with a good couple of rounds at regionals.”
The Tigers have one final guaranteed tournament left on the schedule. The MIAA tournament is set for April 24-26 at the Bald Eagle Course in Joplin, Missouri.