Busy Summer for UW Golfers
August 14, 2002 | Women's Golf
Most of the Wisconsin men's and women's golf team members play tournament golf in the summers, but three have been especially active and successful this summer.
Malinda Johnson, a soon-to-be junior from Eau Claire, is currently competing in the U.S. Women's Amateur Tournament in Scarsdale, NY. Johnson beat teammate Katie Connelly by three strokes for the Wisconsin Women's State Golf Association Stroke Play closing with a 71 for a three-under 143. It was her second state title in the past three years.
Connelly, a senior this year from Beloit who won the state stroke play title over Johnson last year, took the crown in the Wisconsin State Golf Association Match Play tournament in June. She is currently participating in the World University Golf Championship in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, representing the United States. Connelly was one of five collegiate golfers picked up U.S. National Team Coach Diane Thomason of Iowa. She qualified there as one of the three U.S. golfers competing in the tournament.
Perhaps the busiest Badger has been Jon Turcott, a junior from Middleton, Wis. Playing in his first NCAA Regional last May where he finished 62nd with a 10-over 226, Turcott carried his game into the summer. He was the first amateur since 1969 to make the cut at the Greater Milwaukee Open finishing 56th including a final round 68 for a six-under 66-73-71-68 - 278 in the field of professionals. It was just the second appearance in a professional tournament after playing in the Wisconsin State Open. His first round 66 is believed to be the lowest round ever shot by an amateur at the GMO.
The following week Turcott won his third Madison City Men's Golf title in the past four years with a dominating six-under 282. Turcott lapped the field and set a course, personal, and tournament record with an 11-under''-that included his first hole-in-one---in the second round at The Meadows of Six Mile Creek in Waunakee. He won the Wisconsin State Golf Association's Match Play Tournament in June, and finished second for the second-straight year in the Wisconsin State Amateur with a 276. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur by finishing second at the qualifier in Urbana, Ill., with rounds of 70-68 for a six-under 138. Turcott will be competing in that tournament Aug. 19-25 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Turcott will redshirt this upcoming collegiate season in order to complete his academic studies as a fifth-year senior. He will return to play at Wisconsin in the fall of 2003. He led the Badgers through 31 rounds last season averaging 73.87 strokes per round. He had the second best 36 and 54-hole totals in school history when he shot a 67-68-70 - 207 to win the Badger Invitational last fall.
