Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Host Lady Northern This Weekend
9/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 21, 2005
The Indiana University women's golf team will host the 2005 Lady Northern Invitational, Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 24-25 in Bloomington, Ind. The event will be held at the Indiana Golf Course. The course is setup as a par 72 with a yardage of 6,142. Admission is free to the public.
The event consists of three rounds, 36 holes played on Saturday and the final 18 holes taking place on Sunday. In addition to the Hoosiers, 11 other teams will participate in the tournament. Joining IU will be Illinois, Illinois State, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Purdue, Penn State and Wisconsin.
Tournament play begins Saturday, with continuous play in the first two rounds beginning with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. The final round will also be an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday.
Scoring for the event will be six players, with the low four scores from each team for each round being counted. The golfers competing as individuals will not be counted toward the team score.
Participating Hoosiers
The Hoosiers will enter one team of six golfers and three individuals in the field this week. Making up the Indiana team are seniors Shannon Johnson, Katie Carlson and Molly Redfearn, sophomores Elaine Harris and Kendal Hake and true freshman Amber Lindgren. IU will also have several players competing as individuals in junior Jenny Kim, sophomore Gennifer Marrs and true freshman Tiffany Hockensmith.
Quoting Head Coach Clint Wallman
Discuss the field in the Lady Northern:
"This is sort of a repeat of last weekend's field with more of a Big Ten emphasis. All of the Big Ten teams are coming with the exception of Ohio State. This is another great field for us and it is a big advantage having it on our home course."
What are your expectations heading into the event:
"We have improved in every round we played. This week gives us the opportunity to play on familiar territory. I can see us playing even better and posting even lower scores because of that. This also gives us a great opportunity to get the Big Ten teams out here and see how we measure up against them."
On the possibility of severe weather:
"I think that it shouldn't hurt us. Conditions are a part of golf and you have to learn to adapt to them. We have played this course in every condition imaginable, so the girls will have an advantage to course conditions and how it plays in bad weather."
On the excitement of hosting a big event:
"We get this opportunity (to host the Lady Northern and the Big Ten Championships) once every 10 years and that is exactly what I told the girls. We have a chance to put ourselves right in the thick of things in the preseason golf rankings. We don't get too many chances to have all the Big Ten teams together except the conference championships, so to have them all on our course at the same time is a tremendous opportunity for our team."
Starting Off On The Right Foot
Playing in her first tournament as an Indiana golfer, senior transfer Shannon Johnson overcame a three-stroke deficit to earn co-medalist honors with a 7-over par 223 at the sixth-annual Notre Dame Invitational. After carding rounds of 72 and 76 during Saturday's opening 36 holes, Johnson fired a 75 in Sunday's final round to tie with Notre Dame's Noriko Nukazaki for top honors. After playing three years at the University of New Mexico, Johnson captured her first tournament medalist honor of her career, besting her previous career-high finish of a second-place tie at the 2004 Mountain West Conference Championships. She has two top-15 finishes in two tournaments played this season, and leads the team in per round average with a 74.67.
Together Again
After a two-year stint as an assistant coach at New Mexico, Indiana head coach Clint Wallman is reunited with one of his former players. Senior transfer Shannon Johnson comes to Indiana from UNM, where she played under Wallman during her sophomore and junior seasons. Both seasons, Johnson earned all-conference accolades. She finished the 2004 campaign ranked No. 85 in the nation by Golf Week and No. 90 by Golfstat.
Hoosiers Heating Up The Summer
Shannon Johnson, Elaine Harris, Tiffany Hockensmith and Amber Lindgren had excellent summers in 2005. Johnson, who began the summer by competing in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in Kansas City, where she reached the round of 16, claimed a third consecutive South Dakota Golf Association Women's Stroke Play championship at Minnehaha Country Club. In doing so, Johnson became just the seventh woman in state history to win at least three straight stroke play titles, and the first since Kris Tschetter of Sioux Falls accomplished the feat from 1983-86. Harris, a rising sophomore, collected a total of 11 birdies en route to winning the Pacific Women's Golf Association Championship at Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Gilroy, Calif., with a two-round total of 146 (77-69). Harris' victory marked the second year in a row that she has won the event. The title capped a summer of strong play by Harris on the California women's amateur circuit. The San Francisco, Calif., native also tied for eighth overall at the Northern California Golf Association's Inaugural Women's Championship, played at Poppy Hills GC, Pebble Beach, Calif., on July 12-13. In addition, she tied for ninth at the California Women's Championship on July 18-20 and reached the quarterfinals of the California Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship on May 16-20. Hockensmith claimed the 2005 Bloomington Herald Times City Women's Championship. The Indiana recruit and Bloomington South grad won four of the last six holes to claim a 4-and-2 victory. She also had a terrific showing at the 82nd Indiana Women's Golf Association State Amateur Championship, where she finished in a tie for fifth. "I think this shows the future is very bright for Hoosier golf," Indiana head coach Clint Wallman said. "Each of these girls had outstanding summers."
Next Up
The Hoosiers will next travel to Franklin, Ind., to compete at the Shootout at the Legends on Oct. 10-11.
