Top freshman shoots for star season

Freshman standout Aimee Neff has proven to be a vital piece of the MSU women’s golf team.

Coming out and sending a message from her opening tee shot to the clubhouse, Neff fired a 69 in her first round as a Spartan on Sept. 8, 2007 at the Mary Fossum Invitational and has used that as motivation throughout the season.

“It was really exciting to play that well in the first tournament, just because it showed, and I proved to myself, that I could compete at this level,” Neff said.

“I didn’t get too caught up in putting too many expectations on myself for that first round.”

While she didn’t put much pressure on herself for the first round, she admitted to wanting to come out and be that successful every time.

Whatever she is doing seems to be working because not only did she notch the lowest freshman debut in Spartans history with her sub-70 round, but also she has shot 69 twice this season.

Assistant coach Lorne Don said Neff has been holding strong as one of the top three players for the Spartans all year.

“We expected her to step in and play,” he said. “You never know how a freshman is going to adjust right away, but obviously her first tournament was fantastic. Right then we knew she was going to be important for our team all year and she has been.”

Neff, an Indiana native, was a heavily recruited player, but chose MSU largely in part because of the coaching staff. Neff said she believes Don and MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll are two of the best in the nation and she wanted to spend her college career with them helping her through.

“A program like MSU is well-established and has been ranked in the Top 20 for so long,” Neff said. “I was really hoping we could go to the next level, plus the school seemed to fit me well in terms of academics and the team — I love the team.”

Slobodnik-Stoll said she was sure Neff would be a great player in college and beyond, and knew of a lot of coaches who were disappointed when Neff signed with MSU.

But not all has been well for the motivated 18-year-old on the course — she has gone through the same roller-coaster rounds that many freshmen experience.

After her 69 debut in day one of the Mary Fossum, she turned in a 77 and an 82 for the final two rounds to drop from first to a four-way tie for 12th place. On the flip side, she shot an 86 in round two of the “Mo” Morial Tournament only to turn around and fire another round of 69 to take second place.

“I think it’s a little bit of a learning curve for her,” Don said. “We do play in some tough conditions, and when she does shoot those good rounds they are amazing, and sometimes she has a couple rounds that get away from her, but that’s just part of being a freshman.”

The main differences Neff has experienced between high school and college golf is the length of the courses and the conditions they play in day in, and day out.

Neff is on her way to pass star senior Sara Brown’s freshman scoring average. Brown finished her first year with a 77.3 stroke average. Neff averages 76 strokes thus far in the season. Brown is on track to have the lowest career scoring record in Spartan history.

“I think (Neff) is going to be one of the best players in the country,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “I think she will be an All-American and will eventually be extremely successful on the LPGA.”

By the end of the year, Slobodnik-Stoll said she wants to see Neff win a tournament as a freshman, and said she believes she is more than capable of doing so.

“I hope (Neff breaks all of Brown’s records),” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “We hope every year we’ve got kids coming in that are better and better, that’s the success and sign of a truly great program.”

The team heads to Ohio State to play in the Lady Buckeye Invitational on April 19-20.

Published on Monday, April 14, 2008