Indiana University Athletics
Tournament Diary - Lauren Harling
3/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
March 6, 2007
Throughout the 2006-07 season, members of the Indiana women's golf team will be reporting their tournament travels for IUHOOSIERS.com. Junior Lauren Harling chronicled the teams' travel to the Lady Puerto Rico Classic.
This past weekend our team traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for our first tournament of the spring. We flew into Dallas, Texas on Feb. 21, and then to San Juan. Our first cultural experience upon arrival was a late night meal at McDonald's. No one spoke English, so we had a little difficulty ordering and good laughs were had by all. We arrived late to the Westin Rio Mar Resort, unpacked and headed straight to bed.We all got up at about 5:30 a.m. the next morning to load the van and head to the golf course for breakfast and our practice round. The golf course was amazing and the warm weather was fantastic. Our practice round went smoothly. The key to each practice round is to pick out targets for tee shots, pay close attention to the shape and undulation of the greens and to get familiar with yardages. We accomplished this during our practice round and then ate lunch and stayed around to practice for a little while. The team went back to the hotel and changed clothes, then went to dinner at a nice Cuban restaurant.
Most of us tried a cultural dish, and the food was very delicious! After dinner we returned to the hotel for our team meeting. We had taken pictures of each hole and went through the pictures in our meeting to talk about key thoughts for each. We all talked about our goals and expectations and how we were going to achieve them. Then it was bed time!
Feb. 23 was the first round. We got up early and headed to Coco Beach Golf Club for breakfast and warmups. We had an 8 a.m. shotgun start. After the round, we ate lunch and talked about how we felt we performed. We practiced after lunch and then headed back to the hotel for some relaxation. Most of us chose to take a walk on the beach, followed by some fun in the pool! Then it was time for dinner. We ate dinner at the golf course; it was a Caribbean buffet! After dinner, we went back to the hotel for our team meeting. Laura (Nochta) started to feel a little sick that night, so she rested.
Feb. 24 was the second round. We were all very motivated to play well and come back from a disappointing first round. We made a game plan and stuck to it! After the round, we ate lunch and then went straight back to the hotel. It was very hot that day because of the lack of wind and it was important for us to stay refreshed. Coach (Wallman) took us on a hike through the rainforest that afternoon. IT WAS AWESOME! We found a trail that we hiked down for about 20 minutes before we reached La Mina waterfall. Of course, we couldn't come all the way to Puerto Rico and not swim in the waterfall, so we all jumped in and swam across the rocks to find a spot for a fun picture. Coach documented our journey with pictures and videos. It took amazing teamwork to get everyone up onto the rocks! After our hike back up to the car, we were all soaked and piled into our Expedition. The view from the top of the mountains was gorgeous! Back at the hotel, we got ready for dinner and then went to a local Mexican restaurant called Lolita's. The food was very good. Then we followed our same nightly routine and had our team meeting back at the hotel, then bed.
The last round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic was on the 25th and we got paired with NC State, my old team. It was great getting to play with my friends and I was so glad my girls here got to meet them too! We were very determined to play well on the last day, and I would have to say we played our hearts out! The conditions were tough because of the strong winds and heat, but we pulled through. After the round, we ate one last lunch at Coco Beach, showered and headed toward the airport. We had no idea the great adventure we were about to embark upon! We got to the airport and found out that our flight had been delayed because of weather in the States. It took us about an hour to reschedule our flights, because we would not be making our connection in Miami that night. We got to Miami late, and after waiting for luggage and the Super Shuttle, we finally got to the hotel that American Airlines put us in for the night.
The next morning we got up and headed back to Miami International. Coach, Amber (Lindgren), Elaine (Harris) and Laura had to catch a flight to Chicago at 11:30 a.m. while I got to take Anita (Gahir) and Kellye (Belcher) with me to catch a flight at 1:30 p.m. to Chicago. We rendevoused in Chicago around 4 p.m. Our flight in Chicago was delayed almost two hours. Finally, we boarded the plane and made our way to Indianapolis! After 33 hours of traveling, we were all exhausted. Our trip made for a great story, plus we had fun even though we were delayed!
Overall, this trip was beyond words. We had a wonderful time in the sun and learned a lot about what areas of our game need the most work. We definitely saw some very encouraging things. The Lady Puerto Rico Classic was full of great teams and many teams that are in our region, so we also got to size up the competition! I have to say, after my first tournament with this team, I know we are capable of great things and I am so excited about what we can achieve! We are now practicing back in Bloomington and will kick it back into gear for the UNLV Spring Invitational in Las Vegas on March 12-14. GO HOOSIERS!
