Competing at St Andrews Links was a ‘surreal experience’ for Penn golf
Penn women’s and men’s golf teams competed in the St Andrews Links Collegiate from Oct. 12-14. The experience in Scotland gave the Quakers a reason to “fall in love with golf all over again.”
For three days, Penn’s men’s and women’s golf teams competed at the oldest golf course in the world, Scotland’s St Andrews Links, the 15th century course that will host the Open Championship for the 31st time next summer.
Called the “Home of Golf” , St Andrews welcomed Penn, Texas, Washington, and University of St Andrews for the St Andrews Links Collegiate from Oct. 12-14. The matches were televised on the Golf Channel.
For senior Madeleine Zang, it was a “surreal experience.”
Zang had a special moment on the course, when the wind blew her putt into the hole. It was captured on camera and quickly went viral on the Golf Channel’s instagram. The video has 8.1 million views, one of the most viewed reels on the Golf Channel’s account.
“‘Oh my god, this is the luckiest putt in the whole world!’” Zang said. “We talked about it for the rest of the round.”
But the weather was difficult for the golf teams. Sophomore Arjun Caprihan said it felt like “play[ing] in a hurricane … it was blowing like 40 miles per hour and raining sideways.”
Women’s golf head coach Mark Anderson added: “I thought [the rain] was hail at first. It literally hurt your face.”
Penn women’s golf finished third in the tournament, and the men’s team placed fourth. Texas won both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
But for Penn’s student-athletes, it was much more than just a competition. For many, it was their first visit to Scotland.
“I thought it was really cool how Penn treated us properly and did this trip right,” Caprihan said. “They didn’t really cut corners for us.”
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The players received jackets with both St Andrews Links and Penn logos on them and stayed at the Old Course Hotel. After the tournament, the men’s and women’s teams played a few friendly rounds and went sightseeing with the other schools.
“Just being able to compete with teams that are better than us was fun,” Caprihan said.
Even the coaching staff had their share of fun. Anderson got to know Penn’s strength and conditioning coach Cory Walts and athletic trainer Anthony Erz while playing pool with the St Andrews students.
Freshman Sophia Lu had to take a math exam right after the tournament, so Anderson printed out the exam and proctored her at 7:30 a.m. Besides the exam, Lu remembers the food they ate: pasta, bread, and cheese fondue.
But she — and several members on the team — couldn’t bring herself to try haggis, a traditional Scottish dish of minced sheep offal stuffed into a sheep stomach.
“Three times I’ve gone over [to Scotland], yet to try haggis,” Anderson said, “I don’t think I’m ever going to try it.”
Part of the tripped included a tour of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, a members-only club that is not open to the public. At the club, the men’s and women’s teams saw the original Claret Jug, then called the Challenge Belt, from the 1700s that used to be given as a trophy, and the lockers of famed golfers like Ben Hogan.
After one week of competing at a historic course , Zang said, “It’s honestly kind of the peak of our student-athlete experience.”
“Makes you fall in love with golf all over again,” Lu added, “Nothing can top that honestly.”
