Indiana University Athletics
B1G Match Play Allows For Self-Assessment
2/10/2016 9:21:00 AM | Men's Golf
By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Calling Mike Mayer's lineup "fluid" doesn't quite do it justice. It's more uncertain than that.
Indiana's head coach said he's not sure who his No. 1 golfer is as the Hoosiers head into the Big Ten Match Play Championship in Palm Coast, Florida. Truth be told, the whole lineup has been giving him a bit of trouble.
That's not a particularly good thing heading into a new season, Mayer said. But it's not necessarily reason to panic either.
"I think I've got five players—at least five—that are capable of being 'that guy,'" he said. "I would throw my top guys in a basket and here's the thing, I don't know if I could pull out a number one. But any of them I pull out, I think they can all play. They all have the ability to be number one, and somebody has to take it."
The Hoosiers are bringing six players—Max Kollin, Andrew Havill, Keegan Vea, Jake Brown, Brandon Doyle and Jack Sparrow—to compete in the annual Big Ten season opener first conceptualized nearly a decade ago by conference coaches who wanted an honest look at their teams in a tournament setting out of the winter break.
The Big Ten Match Play, which Indiana won in its inaugural year in 2009, has since become an opportunity for conference teams like the Hoosiers to assess their lineups in a relatively low-pressure tournament.
The four matches won't finalize anything for IU. Mayer's lineup is still nowhere near ready for that.
But it should help clear things up.
"The Big Ten Match Play is just a special, special event. It really is," Mayer said. "It's a unique event and totally different from what we'll do the rest of the season, but it will certainly help get us ready for everything we'll be doing the rest of the year."
The Match Play Championship has a history of being a springboard for players and teams. Just last season, Illinois won en route to a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Championships.
At an individual level, Mayer said the format allows players to build confidence in their own games. Match play lends itself to more aggressive, assured play knowing one poor hole won't derail an entire round like it could with conventional stroke play.
"For us, it's one of the bigger events of the season," Mayer said. "One bad score won't kill you like it might a stroke play event. So it takes a little bit of pressure off there, but it adds pressure back in because you're playing an opponent and you individually want to beat him. You never want to get beat by anybody, and everything you do will be directly up against another person."
The trip to Florida will be Indiana's second in as many weeks. The Hoosiers managed to get three rounds of golf in at Naples to go along with qualifying rounds at the IU Golf Course and Otter Creek in Columbus, Indiana.
Those rounds, combined with the work Indiana has been able to do in its new training facility, has put the program as far ahead of schedule as Mayer said he can remember.
"I think we're as ready as we could have ever hoped to be at this juncture in the year," Mayer said. "There's no question our new facilities have helped a lot with that. But then the other part of that is the players have been committed to getting out here and getting the work in they need to do in order to be ready to go."
Indiana will see the dividends of the additional work firsthand this weekend playing in the East Division.
The Hoosiers will open the Match Play against Penn State, then play Minnesota and conclude the round robin format against Rutgers. From there, they'll be seeded based on record against one of the remaining teams from the West Division to play for a final placing.
Mayer said gauging results in a match play isn't as cut and dry in stroke play. Even so, he hopes to come out of the tournament with a better understanding of where the Hoosiers stand before a few weeks off between now and the Loyola Intercollegiate.
It would be a longshot to expect a clear number one player to emerge after four matches. That's not what Mayer is trying to do.
He just wants low scores.
And he'll take them wherever they come.
"We just need to play good golf, plain and simple," Mayer said. "This format is so different that some of them thrive off of it—most of them do. If they get out there and they experience a little success it definitely can be a springboard for us, and that's what we're looking for."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Calling Mike Mayer's lineup "fluid" doesn't quite do it justice. It's more uncertain than that.
Indiana's head coach said he's not sure who his No. 1 golfer is as the Hoosiers head into the Big Ten Match Play Championship in Palm Coast, Florida. Truth be told, the whole lineup has been giving him a bit of trouble.
That's not a particularly good thing heading into a new season, Mayer said. But it's not necessarily reason to panic either.
"I think I've got five players—at least five—that are capable of being 'that guy,'" he said. "I would throw my top guys in a basket and here's the thing, I don't know if I could pull out a number one. But any of them I pull out, I think they can all play. They all have the ability to be number one, and somebody has to take it."
The Hoosiers are bringing six players—Max Kollin, Andrew Havill, Keegan Vea, Jake Brown, Brandon Doyle and Jack Sparrow—to compete in the annual Big Ten season opener first conceptualized nearly a decade ago by conference coaches who wanted an honest look at their teams in a tournament setting out of the winter break.
The Big Ten Match Play, which Indiana won in its inaugural year in 2009, has since become an opportunity for conference teams like the Hoosiers to assess their lineups in a relatively low-pressure tournament.
The four matches won't finalize anything for IU. Mayer's lineup is still nowhere near ready for that.
But it should help clear things up.
"The Big Ten Match Play is just a special, special event. It really is," Mayer said. "It's a unique event and totally different from what we'll do the rest of the season, but it will certainly help get us ready for everything we'll be doing the rest of the year."
The Match Play Championship has a history of being a springboard for players and teams. Just last season, Illinois won en route to a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Championships.
At an individual level, Mayer said the format allows players to build confidence in their own games. Match play lends itself to more aggressive, assured play knowing one poor hole won't derail an entire round like it could with conventional stroke play.
"For us, it's one of the bigger events of the season," Mayer said. "One bad score won't kill you like it might a stroke play event. So it takes a little bit of pressure off there, but it adds pressure back in because you're playing an opponent and you individually want to beat him. You never want to get beat by anybody, and everything you do will be directly up against another person."
The trip to Florida will be Indiana's second in as many weeks. The Hoosiers managed to get three rounds of golf in at Naples to go along with qualifying rounds at the IU Golf Course and Otter Creek in Columbus, Indiana.
Those rounds, combined with the work Indiana has been able to do in its new training facility, has put the program as far ahead of schedule as Mayer said he can remember.
"I think we're as ready as we could have ever hoped to be at this juncture in the year," Mayer said. "There's no question our new facilities have helped a lot with that. But then the other part of that is the players have been committed to getting out here and getting the work in they need to do in order to be ready to go."
Indiana will see the dividends of the additional work firsthand this weekend playing in the East Division.
The Hoosiers will open the Match Play against Penn State, then play Minnesota and conclude the round robin format against Rutgers. From there, they'll be seeded based on record against one of the remaining teams from the West Division to play for a final placing.
Mayer said gauging results in a match play isn't as cut and dry in stroke play. Even so, he hopes to come out of the tournament with a better understanding of where the Hoosiers stand before a few weeks off between now and the Loyola Intercollegiate.
It would be a longshot to expect a clear number one player to emerge after four matches. That's not what Mayer is trying to do.
He just wants low scores.
And he'll take them wherever they come.
"We just need to play good golf, plain and simple," Mayer said. "This format is so different that some of them thrive off of it—most of them do. If they get out there and they experience a little success it definitely can be a springboard for us, and that's what we're looking for."
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
FB: Nico Radicic - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Drew Evans - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Bray Lynch - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Spring Practice - Curt Cignetti Press Conference
Thursday, April 16