Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Central District Invitational
Hoosiers Finish Seventh at Central District Invitational
2/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Feb. 19, 2008
PARRISH, Fla. - Posting a 306 in the final round the Indiana women's golf team finished seventh at the highly competitive Central District Invitational at the River Wilderness Golf Club in Parrish, Fla.
Indiana finished with a 57-over three-round total of 921 (304-311-306). Michigan State took home the title with a total score of 892, followed by Texas A&M (902), kent State (912), Ohio State (913), Texas (914) and Missouri (917). The Hoosiers finished eight strokes better than No. 19 Notre Dame (+65) and 14 strokes ahead of No. 30 Oklahoma.
"I think we got off to a sluggish start but rebounded well toward the end," said head coach Clint Wallman. "I was very pleased with certain areas of our game; I thought our tee-to-green performance was pretty good. There are definitely some areas we can do better with, such as our decision making, that we will work on before we head out again."
Individually the Hoosiers were led by sophomore Anita Gahir who finished tied for ninth with a 9-over score of 225 (74-76-75). After starting out the final round with a bogey, Gahir came back with a biride on nine and was at +2 over the first nine holes. Down the stretch she added another birdie on four to shoot 75.
"Anita was solid all weekend," Wallman said. "Facing a pretty challenging wind she came through in a round that was important for us to move up in the standings."
Senior Elaine Harris bounced back from an 83 in the second round to tie Gahir for the best IU round of the day with a 75. Harris finished tied for 34th with a total score of 234 (76-83-75). Throwing out a bogey on nine, Harris hit par on 14 of 18 holes for the most consistent round of the day.
"Elaine probably had the best ball-striking round of anyone today," Wallman said
Also finishing with a 234 (75-78-81) was Kellye Belcher. Belcher got out to a rough start with bogeys on eight of the first 10 holes. The sophomore managed to straighten things out on the back side of the round to come in at 9-over (81) for the day.
Lauren Harling and Laura Nochta posted identical rounds of 78 on the day and finished in a tie for 45th with a three-round score of 237. Harling (82-77-78) continued to improve as the tournament went on and finished with a team-best three birdies on the day. She closed out her round with a pair of pars and a birdie to head into the clubhouse on a positive note.
Nochta posted her best round of the tournament on Tuesday. After opening with a pair of bogeys and a double bogey over the first four holes, Nochta fought back with five-straight pars. She was just +2 over the final nine holes, finishing up with pars on the final six holes of the day.
The Hoosiers are off until March when they travel to the UNLV Spring Invitational, March 10-12 in Las Vegas, Nev.
"We'll go back and look at the stats, but my initial impression is that we need to work on our short game and do better with our scoring irons. If we can see improvement in those areas, I think we will be fine."
Players Mentioned
