Indiana University Athletics
Dennison Leads by Six at Legends
10/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
October 7, 2002
Records Shattered as Hoosiers Trail Kent State by Three Strokes
DAY ONE RESULTS (HTML)DAY ONE RESULTS (PDF)
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Junior Karen Dennison (above) and freshman Molly Redfearn both holed-out for eagles on the par-five 15th at the Legends Monday. |
FRANKLIN, Ind. - More records were shattered by the No. 11 Indiana University women's golf team Monday than the Beatles had when they invaded the mainland. The Hoosiers carded rounds of 298 and 294 for a 592, finishing in second place entering Tuesday's final round at the Shootout at the Legends.
IU trails Kent State, who fired a second round even-par 288, by just three strokes. The Golden Flashes recorded the lowest round of the day, but the spotlight on the Hoosiers never had a chance to fade to black once during the day.
The No. 13 golfer in the nation simply did it again. In what began as a dismal start for Indiana's Karen Dennison, ended in dramatic fashion. The Madison, Ind., native carded a 38 on the front-nine of the Legends of Indiana Golf Course layout, only to card a school record 6-under-par 30 on the backside to finish with a first-round 68.
Dennison began the back-nine with birdies at holes 10 and 11, a bogey at 12, and pars on 13 and 14. After placing her second shot 80 yards away from the par-five 15th green, Dennison holed a sand wedge for an eagle-3. She then went on a rampaged as she carded three consecutive birdies to close her round.
Dennison's 68 ties her career-best, which she fired just last week at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate. The single-round total is just one shy of the school record of 67, shot by Jennifer Gray at the 1998 NCAA Championships.
After a second-round 2-under-par 70, the junior broke her own 36-hole school and career-record with a 138. Dennison set a new 36-hole record last weekend with a 140 as well.
The junior currently leads the field at 6-under-par, well ahead of Iowa State's Louise Kenney at even-par.
"I really didn't get off to a good start today," Dennison said. "I took a double-bogey at the par-three seventh by actually hitting the ball too good. Coach (Carmichael) told me that if I slightly missed my 4-iron the wind would catch it and I'd be in trouble. So I played safe, took the 3-iron and hit it perfect. It put me behind the green, where you absolutely cannot be, and it was tough to get up-and-down."
Even in the blustery conditions Monday, Dennison stayed focused and made the turn to the back-nine determined.
"I started off with two birdies right off the start, which really got me going," Dennison said. "My irons started clicking and I was hitting every shot really well. My putting was awesome today, which was nice to have because the greens were so fast."
The junior's putting was so good Monday, she obviously opted not to putt on some holes as was the case on No. 15.
And if there was a full moon or a lightning strike in the sky on Monday, none of the Legends Shootout patrons could see it with the sunny skies and 20 mile-per-hour winds.
Amazingly though, Indiana freshman Molly Redfearn entered No. 15 in her second round 6-over-par. After her drive landed in the sand, the Racine, Wis., native layed-up to 135 yards with a good look at the green with the creek in front of it.
"I was going to hit an 8-iron but I was into the wind and I needed to get it over the creek," said Redfearn. "I pulled out my seven and hit a little punch shot. It was going right at the flagstick and then..."
Unbelievable. Redfearn's ball skipped twice on the green and then disappeared in the hole for another Hoosier eagle on the same hole.
"It was an amazing feeling," said the quietly reserved freshman. "Jeana (Finlinson), Bethany (Brunner) and Megan (Mulhaupt, all Indiana teammates that made the trip to Franklin Monday) were yelling and clapping for me. It was pretty awesome."
Another rarity is the fact that Finlinson, a senior on the Hoosier squad, saw both Dennison and Redfearn's eagles, which happened some three hours between each other.
As for the Hoosiers individually, rounding out the lineup was junior Ambry Bishop with a 151 (78-73), tied for 18th. Mary Lidester is tied for 26th at 154 (76-78), while junior Danah Ford (76-80) slipped to a 44th-place tie with teammate Cara Stuckey (82-74) at 156. Redfearn finished tied for 51st at 157 (80-77).
For Indiana, many team records for the Legends Shootout were shattered as well. The Hoosiers bettered their 2001 18- (295) and 36-hole (594) performances with 294 and 592, respectively. Dennison's 68 and 138 totals were better than Erin Carney's 69 and 143 in 1998. Carney went on to win the 1998 Legends event with a score of 214.
"I was pleased with how we played today in general, but we are still having too many big numbers posted. Each girl had bad holes today that resulted in double and triple bogeys," said Indiana head coach Sam Carmichael. "If you take those mistakes away, we have a comfortable lead right now. We have to eliminate those if we are going to win golf tournaments."
In the four-year history of the tournament, Indiana has never placed better than fourth. On a course that is less than an hour from Bloomington, the Hoosiers feel that the advantage will be with them tomorrow.
"Everyone on our team knows this course well and I think that it will benefit us tomorrow," said Stuckey.
Bishop, a Franklin native who calls the Legends layout home, agrees.
"We're all very comfortable on this course and have a good idea of the breaks in the greens and where to place our ball. It's just a matter of doing it," said Bishop.
The Hoosiers will try to do it tomorrow as they enter the final round in a "Shootout at the Legends," with tee-times beginning at 7:30 a.m. A frost advisory was issued statewide Monday night, meaning frost delays could push the Tuesday morning start times back.
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