Indiana University Athletics
Women's Golf Resumes Play at Lady Puerto Rico Classic
2/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Feb. 6, 2009
IU at Lady Puerto Rico Classic- Tournament Notes 
LADY PUERTO RICO CLASSIC
Feb. 8-10
Coco Beach Golf and Country Club- Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Tournament Field: Purdue, Indiana, Georgia, Kent State, New Mexico, TCU, NC State, Michigan, Tennessee, Florida State, Iowa State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Wisconsin
Course Information: Coco Beach Golf Club • Par 72 • 6,219 yards
Results: IUHOOSIERS.com (post-tournament results)
SETTING THE SCENE
• The Hoosiers open the spring season with the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
• It is a 54-hole format with 18 holes each day beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern on Sunday and Monday and 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
• It is a shotgun start each day.
THE LINEUP
• Junior Laura Nochta
• Junior Kellye Belcher
• Sophomore Cecilia Orevik
• Junior Anita Gahir
• Senior Amber Lindgren
ABOUT THE LADY PUERTO RICO CLASSIC
• This year's field reads as a who's-who of collegiate women's golf with 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 taking part.
• Alabama won the tournament in 2008 (880), while Stacy Lewis of Arkansas was the individual champion (208).
• Purdue University is the host of the event.
COACH WALLMAN'S THOUGHTS
On getting back to tournament play after the winter break:
"It is a good golf course and a good field. The best thing is we're just excited to pick up where we left off after UNLV (in October). There is a really good sense of completion in the fall season and playing last week they seemed to get back into that mode of playing and competing.
"And I saw a huge difference from day one to day two (vs. Wisconsin) last weekend in how they saw the course, carried themselves and shot selections. It will be fun to put it to the test this weekend in a really good field."
On the team's improvements from the fall season to now:
"There is a much better sense of presence (by the team). When we played last weekend they played with a lot of presence. They knew exactly what they had to do; they carried themselves as though they were an elite team in the Big Ten.
"They made good decisions. They did all the things that they need to do consistently, without having to be reminded to do it. It looked like they had matured in a way that they were able to take care of business on their own without a lot of reminders."
On the benefits of playing a strong field early in the spring season:
"Given the weather around the country, it has been brutally cold and not a lot of teams have been out playing. If we are going to play a tough field I would like to catch them early to give us the best opportunity to pick off a couple of teams that are ranked up there.
`When you get in a tournament that is this early, anyone can play well. Anyone that keeps their wits about them and takes care of their business can take care of a team ranked well ahead of them."
On what he hopes to see from the team with the next tournament not until mid-March:
"I want to get a sense of work ethic and a really good sense of where we need to be better, whether it is decision making, wedge play, putting, hitting greens in regulation, whatever statistical things we need to figure out.
"And then we can take that time between now and our spring break tournament to work those things out. Once we hit spring break it is a really short season. We have four tournaments before the conference championship, so we aren't going to have a lot of time after spring break to do a lot tinkering. By the time we hit spring break we need to be firing on all cylinders."
LAS VEGAS RECAP
• The Indiana women's golf team saved its best round for the final day, shooting a school-record 277 to finish 10th at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown at the Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev.
• Indiana shot rounds of 292, 291 and 277 to finish four strokes under par. Indiana's three-round total of 860 is also a school record, breaking the old mark of 864 set at the UNLV Spring Invitational in 2007.
• Junior Kellye Belcher led the way with a tie for ninth after shooting a career-best 69 (-3) on the final day and carding a 210 (70-71-69) for the tournament.
• Junior Anita Gahir saved her best round for the final day, shooting a school record-tying 67 (-5) and finishing tied for 22nd with a score of 214 (73-74-67).
• Junior Laura Nochta tied for 29th with a three-round score of 215 (73-72-70).
• Senior Amber Lindgren continued Indiana's strong trend on the final day with a 1-over 73 to finish tied for 63rd (76-74-73=223).
• Finishing one stroke behind Lindgren in a tie for 68th was sophomore Cecilia Orevik (76-77-71=224). Her final-round 71 was her first under-par round as a member of the Hoosier squad.
GOLFWEEK RANKINGS
• In the last set of rankings, posted in November 2008,
• Purdue leads the way at No. 17, followed by No. 20 Michigan State and No. 28 Ohio State in the top 30.
• Indiana comes in at No. 54, fifth among Big Ten teams.
Players Mentioned
