Any golf in October in this province is always a bonus and for two Red Deer College golfers the continuation of their season is even more special even if they have to go out of town.

Melissa Koster and Rochelle French are headed to Ontario as representatives of the RDC golf team at the national championship after both managed to shoot their career best rounds on the way to a third place finish at provincials.

“I shot 94 on the first day and I was actually really shocked,” said Koster, who found it hard to break the century mark at the start of the season. “It was really sweet to know that I have that in me, that I can do well.”

For French, her best score posted was 112 and she was quite pleased with the result.

“Compared to my first tournament I shot 30 strokes better so it’s definitely a personal improvement,” said French.

Both players credit their coaches, Scott Bergdahl and Fred Cardwell for the better scores and a boost in confidence as they head towards the national championship event.

Bergdahl, the head professional at Lakewood Golf Resort says any pressure on these girls at nationals is going to be there only if they put it there themselves as most golfers are their own worst enemies when it comes to the mental aspect of the game.

“If the girls can keep that part in check and just enjoy the moment and play golf one shot at a time I think they’ll do just fine,” he said.

One thing the two have going in their favour is their friendship and the support they’ll be able to offer each other during the tournament.

“I’m really excited Rochelle is coming with me and we get along really well,” said Koster. “It’s been great getting to know her this year and playing with her.”

French feels the same way and said having Koster there is one of the best benefits in her mind.

“We work together every practice and every tournament we do a practice round together. Just having another female team member helps a lot.”

The team has no misconceptions about how they will fare at this tournament and like the fact they’re are likely being viewed as the underdog.

“Sometimes it’s good being the dark horse in a competition but I think we’re just working on our personal bests and we’re going to go out there and represent RDC well hopefully,” said French.

“I don’t know, anything is possible right?” said Koster.

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