UWG Golf Player Speaks About This Season with COVID-19

The UWG Women’s Golf Team competed in their second tournament of the season on Oct. 13. The Wolves traveled up to Dahlonega, GA, and came in fourth place in the tournament. Michelle Bagsic, a player for the women’s golf team and junior at UWG, spoke about her experience at the tournament.

Bagsic led the team the first round in the LeAnn Noble Memorial. She finished the round with five-under par, receiving one of her best scores since 2019 of Par 72.

“My first round I actually played really well, which was exciting. I shot under par which is really good,” said Bagsic. “I just wasn’t expecting that. When we got to our practice round, it was raining so we weren’t able to play on the course or practice before the tournament. The first round I was just focused on getting familiar with everything and just playing the game, but I played really well.”

Golf, although it is a slow and individual sport, has a lot that goes into it. Players have to overcome not only physical challenges, but mental challenges as well.

“Our first day we had to play two rounds, so that was physically tiring,” said Bagsic. “It’s a mental thing—you have to keep playing each hole and not think about how you are going to play 36 holes. Since it was our second tournament of the season, we just had to get used to it and get ready to play that many holes because it is a lot.”

Mental challenges can present themselves after playing a hard course or even a hard round. However, the mental challenge of playing well can make an appearance as well.

“The first round I played really well,  so that also got into my head of ‘I’ve played this well, I should be playing good the next couple rounds’ but that didn’t really happen for me,” said Bagsic. “So I think that was more of my mental game getting to me, and I was getting really frustrated. It is really mentally challenging.”

This season the team received two new players with one new player joining them at the tournament. Because of this change, the Wolves have had to adjust for the better and in the process have become a new concrete and well formed team.

“I think we’ve grown a lot as a team because I think our expectations this year are higher than last year and previous years,” said Bagsic. “So we all have the same goal to improve and get better and improve as a team as well as individually. I think that is something that we all have in common and we are all working together to reach that goal. The team environment is so comfortable and supportive.”

Golf along with Cross Country have been the only two sports competing at UWG in the fall. Because of this both sports have gotten more attention due to football and other sports taking a break for the season. Even so the amount of attention on the golf season has not affected the way the team approaches the game and the way they play.

“I feel like we have gotten a lot of attention,” said Bagsic. “However, I don’t think I am as pressured because it’s not like a football game where there are a lot of people coming to watch you. For Golf there is not a lot of people that watch, and it’s not on campus or anything. Online we are getting a lot of attention so that is really big, and I am really grateful that we get a season.”

The only difference between this golf season and previous is the attention that highlights the team’s losses. In the past if the team lost a tournament, not much attention was drawn as other sports were more highlighted during their season. Now the Golf team is on the front pages and it’s very different.

“If I play good now then everybody will see that, but also if I play bad now everybody will see it as well.”

The women’s golf team plays its last tournament for the fall on Nov. 1. The team heads to Alabama to play at the Full Moon Invitational.