Women's Golf

KU golfers prepare for Clarion Invite
by Tyler Schueck, Kutztown University Sports Information graduate assistant

KUTZTOWN, PA. (Sept. 24, 2009) – The Kutztown University women’s golf team will head to western Pennsylvania for the Clarion Invitational on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27.

The trip marks the first time in program history that the golf team will play at the Clarion Oaks Golf Club. Head coach Rob Fisher will do his research online and prepare his golfers the best he can about the unfamiliar course.

“Normally we are able to do a practice round, but that is not the case this time around,” said Fisher. “Hopefully we can get there early enough to do a walk through, along with the online research to prepare ourselves.”

Co-captain Samantha Rumbley (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) plans to handle the course one hole at a time and listen to what advice coach Fisher or assistant Scott Horoshko offer the team.

“Sometimes you will play with a nice opponent who will give you a tip or two on their home course,” said Rumbley. “You just have to trust that they are telling you the truth.”

The veteran leader, however, has been doing just fine on her own this season, with an 85 average in five rounds. She had her season-best 81 on the first day at the Mercyhurst Invitational en route to finishing tied for 13th. Rumbley has picked up where she left in the 2008-09 season, where she averaged an 87 and had the lowest average of returning KU golfers for the 2009-10 season.

The junior finds herself, along with co-captain Chelsea Corbo (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin East), as the veteran leader of the young Golden Bear squad.

“Samantha was ready to step up, it wasn’t a role that she fell in to,” said Fisher about Rumbley’s leadership. “It is good for her as a golfer and as a person. She is doing a great job with it.”

Rumbley first became interested in golfing by accompanying her mother to the driving range a few times when she was younger. But it was not until high school that she became more serious and focused on a future with the sport.

Enter coach Fisher who knew Rumbley would be a great asset to the Golden Bears.

“Maybe it was the great coaches,” said Fisher with a laugh. “We recruited her heavily and luckily, for us, she chose to come here.”

Turns out coach Fisher wasn’t too far off with that statement.

“I really got along great with the coaches that I met when I visited Kutztown,” said Rumbley. “And the distance from home was perfect, not too close but not too far. It was just a good fit.”

Following the Clarion Invitational, Rumbley and the rest of the Golden Bears will travel to the New Jersey for the Rutgers Invitational in the first weekend of October. The fall season will conclude with the PSAC Championship at the Wren Dale Golf Club.

--KU--