Coach Cheryl Maize hopes her team won't be hunting for theirgolf balls like Easter eggs at the Conference USA Tournament nextweek.
The way her team, The University of Memphis women's golf team,has been playing, Maize shouldn't worry about losing too many ballsat Lake Jovita Golf Course in Dade City, Fla., April 21-23.
Maize said her team has what it takes to not only compete, butalso win the tournament.
"We have all the talent in the world," Maize said. "It's just amatter of them believing in themselves."
After placing third in the LSU/Cleveland Classic last week, theLady Tigers seem to be in mid-season form and surging at the righttime.
Much of being able to play well is having a strong mentalapproach to each shot, and that is what Maize tries to develop inher players.
"We've talked a lot about how you approach each match," Maizesaid. "If you believe in somebody else's ability more than youbelieve in your own, then you have no business being outthere."
The lesson Maize wants her team to understand is it's moreimportant what you do with your next shot than what you did withyour last shot.
"It doesn't matter if you're hitting well," Maize said. "Hittinga bad shot doesn't mean your going to have a bad round.
"In golf, there are two shots -- playable and unplayable.Unplayable is if your ball is underwater or out of bounds. If it'sneither, then find your ball and hit it again."
Memphis' success will depend largely on the play of freshmanDanielle Reilly, who had a breakout tournament last week, shooting224 over 54 holes and averaging 75 strokes per round. Reilly tiedfor tenth with teammate Abby More.
Jennifer Jasek and Marianne Ruud have the lowest scoringaverages on the team and will need to rebound from a sub-partourney if Memphis wishes to win the C-USA tournament.
Memphis hopes to use their four All-C-USA nominees to battle theelite in the conference.
Tulane is the toughest team coming into the C-USA tournament andhas been consistently ranked among the top 20 in the nation allyear.
"Tulane is definitely going to be our biggest challenge," Maizesaid. "South Florida and TCU are also ranked ahead of us, butTulane is the team to beat."
Memphis finished behind the Green Wave in last week'stournament.
Tulane has finished no lower than fifth in tournaments thisspring winning the Tulane Invitational in February.
The trip to Florida will be a homecoming of sorts for Maize, whogrew up in Venice, Fla.
"My home is in Venice, so going back to a Florida course issomething that I know about," Maize said. "I'm excited to be ableto go to Conference in (my home state)."
Maize said if her team plays to their ability, they couldachieve their objective in the tournament.
"My goal, and my girls' goal, is to win the Conference USATournament." Maize said.
The men's golf team also travels to the Tampa area for theirversion of the C-USA Championships Monday thru Wednesday.
Junior Alan Weant leads the Tigers. Weant shot a one under inthe final of the Billy Hitchcock Intercollegiate last week.
The Germantown native shot an eight over par for the threerounds. Teammate Michael Prieur finished ahead of Weant by shootinga five over for tournament.
In the tournament, conference foe UAB Blazers won the event witha 12 over by defeating the No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks on the thirdhole of a playoff.
The host school for the C-USA Championships is SouthFlorida.
Both the men's and women's teams at South Florida had their bestfinishes of the season in the Sunshine State.
The men finished third at the USF Invitational while the ladiesfinished second at the Florida Ryder Women's StateChampionship.
The Blazers, Tigers and other men's squads tee off theirchampionship at 8 a.m. Monday.
The women's first tee time is 7:45 a.m. Monday.
