Kress' success is par for the course

For Stacy Kress, golf is about more than just birdies and pars. But you wouldn't know it from looking at her scores. The Penn sophomore standout was a first team All-Ivy selection last year. The honor was a result of her fifth-place finish in last April's Ivy League Championships, eight strokes behind champion Sarah Seo of Yale. "Her ability as a freshman to make first team All-Ivy in the first year that we were a program is quite remarkable," Penn coach Francis Vaughn said. Vaughn speaks highly of his first-ever female recruit, both as a person and as a golfer. "She definitely has been a leader on the team, as far as leading by example," Vaughn said. The consistent all-around play that Kress displayed in her freshman campaign has carried over to her sophomore year. In Penn's three fall meets, she shot the team-low score on every day of every event. She also managed to notch a top-10 finish, coming in tied for ninth at the Princeton Invitational back in October. "Stacy excels in a lot of areas on the golf course," Vaughn said. "She does a lot of things well, and I don't think that she does any one thing better than another." But while Kress excels individually, her own attitude toward golf reflects that of the team as a whole. "[My goal every weekend] is to play pretty well and post good scores," Kress said. "I also hope that I can get my teammates and, for next year, the new recruits to be as enthusiastic about golf as I am." Kress, who currently carries a six handicap, hails from just outside Baltimore in Pikesville, Md. Having been introduced to golf by her parents at the age of two, she began playing competitively in high school. "My family exposed me to it," Kress said. "My dad is a golf enthusiast, and both my parents play." Since Penn women's golf was entering its first year of varsity competition in Kress' freshman year, one might think that recruiting her would be a formidable challenge. However, this situation actually served as an advantage for Penn in bringing Kress on board. "She really wanted to be here," Vaughn said. "She was excited about playing collegiate golf at the University of Pennsylvania. Being a program just starting, that made [Penn] an even more attractive choice for her." For Kress, learning that Penn was planning to field a women's team came by chance. "I actually was looking at other Ivy League schools that had teams, and both my parents and I wanted me to go to a good school academically," Kress said. "I somewhat overheard someone say Penn was starting a program." The Maryland native credits Vaughn as being one of the biggest factors in her ultimate decision to come to Penn. "[Coach Vaughn] was much friendlier and much more caring and interested in finding out about me than any other coach that I was recruited by," Kress explained. After she visited Penn and met her future teammates, her decision was an easy one. "Everything about [Penn] I fell in love with," Kress said. "I was really excited from the minute I met my teammates, and it was everything I wanted." With two more years left to make her mark, Kress is in prime position to help the Penn women's golf program grow into one that can be competitive with the other five Ivy schools that currently field women's teams, while enjoying the game in the process. "Stacy is very outgoing," Vaughn said. "She has a good time both on and off the golf course. She really enjoys being a part of the Penn program." As for what lies ahead for Kress after collegiate golf, the health and societies major isn't quite sure. "Whether I go into business or law or something else, I would like to use my golf somehow."

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