The ISU women’s golf team was expecting different conditions from the snow and cold of central Iowa when they headed down to Bryan, Texas, earlier this week. However, the cold seemed to be present down there as well, affecting the Cyclones first tournament of the season.

Due to the adverse conditions, the Verizon “Mo”morial Invitational shortened its Monday session from 36 to 18 holes, contracting the whole competition from 54 holes to 36 holes.

“The ground was rock solid with frost,” ISU junior Laura Wells said.

“You just can’t play golf in that because you can’t control the ball.”

Wells found this out on the par-5 15th, when her tee shot landed in the middle of the fairway.

The ball skidded so much on the landing that it finished beyond the out of bounds markers.

After Tuesday’s round, the Cyclones finished in 15th place out of 18 teams with a final score of 669.

The team’s first tournament of the spring season featured a strong field that included eight teams from the Big 12 Conference and six teams from the Big Ten.

Ohio State topped the team standings with a final tally of 616.

Michigan State finished second with 630 strokes, three less than Texas Christian.

Buckeye Mollie Fankhauser shot 150 to finish as the medalist.

Junior Leanne Owens led the Cyclones, shooting 165 and placing in the top 50, tying for 44th place.

Wells and Louise Kenney finished at 170, Lisa Meshke shot 171 and Sarah Gilbert completed her tournament with a 173.

No ISU player shot less than 80 in either round during the competition.

ISU head coach Julie Manning said she expects some rust from her players after not being able to play or practice outside for the last three to four months.

“You know you’re going to go through that first tournament where you’re going to have those bad numbers,” she said. “Your mental toughness isn’t there and you start to make bad decisions.”

The tournament may have left time for the Cyclones to improve, but Wells said the result was not very helpful and that they’ll be looking for improvement.

“Our main goal is to make it to regionals,” she said. “We want to beat teams that are ahead of us, and I think that this [tournament] hurt us.”

With the recent cold snap hitting the area, it doesn’t look as if the Cyclones will have many opportunities to practice on the real course anytime soon, a fact that doesn’t sit well with Manning.

“I was hoping that we could return to warm temperatures so we could keep going outside, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” Manning said. “We’re going to have to make do with what we have.”

Manning will coach her squad in Ames for the next few days.

However, when the Cyclones travel to Brandenton, Fla. for their next event, Manning will have to stay behind due to added responsibilities because of her management position with the NCAA women’s basketball regional.

“We talked about that a lot on the last trip,” Manning said. “They know what my expectations are.”

Wells said things will seem different for the team without Manning there, but that the players have to do the work, whether their coach is at the tournament or not.

She also said Manning’s absence shouldn’t affect how the team performs.

“Even though coach Manning is there with us, she can’t hit the shots for us,” she said. “We have to make sure that we practice and prepare as much as we can for the tournament.”

With the season already underway, Manning said her players will start to regain their mental toughness each and every time they step out on the course.

“They’re going to start to zero in,” she said. “There’s no letting up from here on out.”

The team’s next tournament is the Waterlefe Invitational, to be held on March 18-19 in Bradenton, Fla.