Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Ready For Lady Northern
9/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 23, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana women's golf team is ready to host its first tournament of the 2005 season, the Lady Northern Invitational. Serving as a preview for the Big Ten Championships, the Lady Northern features a 12-team field, with 10 of the 11 Big Ten schools competing in the event. Indiana will also play host to the 2006 Big Ten Championships on April 28-30.
The event will be held at the Indiana University Golf Course and will be free to the public. The tournament begins with 36 holes on Saturday, Sept. 24. The final 18 holes will be held on Sunday, Sept. 25. Both rounds will commence with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
"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," Indiana head coach Clint Wallman said. "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."
Scoring for the 2005 Lady Northern Invitational will be six players, count the low four scores each round. The Hoosiers will enter one team of six golfers and three individuals in the field this weekend. 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.
Johnson began the season by overcoming a three-stroke deficit to earn co-medalist honors with a 7-over par 223 at the sixth-annual Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 10-11). 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.
