Indiana University Athletics
Women's Golf Travels to UNLV Spring Invitational
3/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
March 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
UNLV Spring Invitational
March 10-12
Boulder Creek Golf Club - Boulder City, Nev.
Tournament Field: Indiana, BYU, Campbell, Colorado State, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Kansas State, Long Beach State, New Mexico State, Oregon, Sacramento State, Texas Tech, Washington, Washington State, UNLV, San Francisco, UC Davis
Course Information: Boulder Creek Golf Club • Par 72 • 6,153 Yards
Results: golfstat.com (Live Scoring); IUHOOSIERS.com (post-tournament results)
SETTING THE SCENE
• Coming off a seventh-place finish at the Central District Invitational, the Hoosiers head west for the UNLV Spring Invitational at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev.
• Sophomore Anita Gahir is off to a strong start in the spring after posting a ninth-place finish at the Central District Invitational with a three-round score of 225 (+9).
• This kicks off back-to-back weekends of play for Indiana as IU then heads to the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, March 17-19 in Austin, Texas.
• At the UNLV Spring Invitational last year, Elaine Harris was the top finisher with a 10th-place performance (73-69-72/214).
• As a team the Hoosiers placed fourth with a three-round score of 864 (285-285-294).
• This year's field features No. 35 BYU, No. 48 Texas Tech and No. 49 Oregon.
THE LINEUP
• Sophomore Anita Gahir
• Senior Lauren Harling
• Sophomore Laura Nochta
• Senior Elaine Harris
• Sophomore Kellye Belcher
• Junior Amber Lindgren*
* Competing as an individual
NEWS AND NOTES
• 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.
• 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 birdie on nine and was at +2 over the first nine holes. Down the stretch she added another birdie on four to shoot 75.
• 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.
• 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 the final day. 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 will remain out west for the week. After the UNLV Spring Invitational, the team will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. to play a few practice rounds at the UNM Championship Course, site of the 2008 NCAA Championship.
• The team will then continue on to Austin, Texas for the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, March 17-19.
OUT OF THE GATES
• 2007 marked the first time the Hoosiers opened the fall with four-straight top-five finishes since the 2002-03 season.
• Overall this year Indiana has six top-10 finishes in six tournaments.
• Indiana is averaging a score of 305.44 per round, which if maintained through the spring would be the third-lowest average on record in school history.
• In 2006-07 Indiana finished no worse than 11th in any of its five fall tournaments. In 2007-08 the Hoosiers worst finish was 10th at the Palmetto Intercollegiate.
COACH WALLMAN ON THE UNLV SPRING INVITATIONAL:
• "This is a golf course we have had success at, so that is going to bring a really good feeling going into it. It is a golf course where they set some school records. I feel with the course familiarity, the experience level and our preparation they are going to feel pretty good about heading to Las Vegas and putting up some low numbers."
• "We are not using the weather (in Indiana) as an excuse. It is an opportunity for us to look at other parts of our game, work on the mental side, the mechanical parts of our putting, chipping and wedge play. It has actually been a blessing in disguise. We've used it to the best of our ability."
• "This weekend we were outside playing, so we've been playing. I think it has actually been a good balance where we can play some and then go back inside and work on some skills. I think it makes you hungry to play as opposed to being in the same routine."
• "We've been working really hard and this is a big stretch for us. We are gone for 12 days with two really solid tournaments."
• "This is really our stretch run. We have the Vegas tournament, Texas, then the Mountain View in Tucson at the end of the month, and then we follow that up with our invitational. We have a really strong field, really prepping us for the conference championship and a hopeful postseason bid."
COACH WALLMAN ON THE CENTRAL DISTRICT INVITATIONAL:
• "I think we got off to a sluggish start but rebounded well toward the end. 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."
• "Anita was solid all weekend. Facing a pretty challenging wind she came through in a round that was important for us to move up in the standings."
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE:
• "That (the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational) is going to be a really fun tournament. And it is a big tournament. Texas is hosting regionals and we've never played this course. It is traditionally a very strong field and a very good golf course."
• It is a top-flight event all the way around. We are going to approach the event as we would any other trying to prepare ourselves to play the best teams like we would in a postseason event."
• "This will really have the feel of maybe even a postseason practice."
GOLFWEEK POLL
• Indiana is No. 43 in the latest Golfweek poll, released March 3.
• The Hoosiers are fourth among Big Ten teams, behind No. 11 Purdue, No. 20 Michigan State and No. 38 Ohio State.
• Individual Rankings:
- Laura Nochta- 194
- Anita Gahir- 202
- Elaine Harris- 223
- Kellye Belcher- 276
- Lauren Harling- 438
Players Mentioned
