Indiana University Athletics
Hoosier Women's Golf Resumes Play in Arizona
1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Jan. 30, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - After a three-month break in competition, the Indiana women's golf team heads back out onto the course this weekend as it travels to Westbrook Village Vistas Golf Course in Phoenix, Ariz. to take on Wisconsin in match play. The two teams will face off on Sunday, Feb. 1.
The teams will follow a nassau format, which consists of head-to-head matchups of six players from each team. Three points total is awarded in each individual matchup, with a point each for low score on the front nine, back nine and overall.
"This is a great kick-off event for us," said head coach Clint Wallman. "This is our second time on this course, so I think we will be much more comfortable. I am looking for us to pick up where we left off (in the fall), factoring in the fact that we haven't played as much. I am looking at the intensity factor, attention to detail and getting back into a tournament mode. I think that will happen very quickly. The girls have been very focused in practice and are really excited about getting out there."
Senior Amber Lindgren, juniors Kellye Belcher, Anita Gahir, Laura Nochta, sophomore Cecilia Orevik and freshman Emily Habbel will make the trip out to Arizona.
Indiana's last competitive outing on the course was a memorable one as it shot a school-record 277 in the final round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown (Oct. 27-29), where it finished 10th as a team. That beat the old mark of 284 set at the NCAA Championships in 1998. In addition, the team also set the record for two-round (568) and three-round (860) scores.
Individually, Gahir tied the school record with a 67 in that final round. Belcher became the 13th Hoosier to record a round under 70 with a 69 in the final round.
"During the break a lot of the girls played in Florida and Alabama," Wallman said. "They have been practicing and playing pretty much non-stop since the end of the fall season. When we got back to school (after the holiday break) it has been a lot of indoor practice, including swing work. We have actually played the last couple of weekends, including our campus course last week, so we have gotten some playing time in."
Tournament play resumes Feb. 8-10 as the Hoosiers will test their abilities against some of the top teams in the nation at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Some of the teams competing in the 54-hole tournament include No. 8 Georgia, No. 15 Purdue, No. 21 Kent State, No. 34 New Mexico, No. 37 TCU, No. 38 N.C. State, No. 45 Michigan and No. 48 Tennessee.
"Puerto Rico is a national-level field, so getting us comfortable playing and getting ourselves into the tournament mode of how to think critically and made the right decisions will be important this weekend," Wallman said. "The goal for this week is to rub off a lot of the rust and that will go a long way in preparing us for Puerto Rico."
Players Mentioned
