Team battles back after weather postpones play

First came the rain, then came the fog, and then came the self-unraveling. After the massive downpour Thursday night, the entire outlook of this past weekend's Northern Intercollegiate was altered. As the players awoke Saturday morning, a thick blanket of fog had settled in overnight, which postponed play until 10 am. When play finally began, the Hoosiers came out lackluster during the first round. \nFortunately, for the Hoosiers at least, the lifeless performance lasted for only one round. The team went on to regain its composure and take fifth place alongside Ohio State for the weekend.\nIn a field that included Minnesota and Illinois, who won the event, two of the nation's Top 25 according to GolfDigest.com, as well as the two teams IU was paired with for the tournament, the Hoosiers could not afford to start off as poorly as they did. They shot a first round 295, +11, which left IU in 13th place after the first 18. But the men in the crimson and cream golf shirts battled their way back throughout the weekend.\nThe lone bright spot Saturday morning for IU was sophomore Jeff Overton, who shot a -2, 69 during an elements filled first round. Overton finished the round tied for fifth place.\nAlso, on his first hole, number three on the course, in collegiate play, freshman Scott Seibert holed in his second shot for an eagle. After making the shot, Seibert cleaned his club off and went along like nothing happened.\n"I was nervous on the first hole a little bit, but I only had to hit two shots which helped me calm down," Seibert said. \nBut, the tournament had the teams play two rounds on Saturday, which gave the Hoosiers a chance to finish the day better than they started it. And the squad took advantage of the change of weather, and the change of rounds.\nThe weather became near ideal as the second round began to heat up. On a cloudless afternoon, the Hoosiers scores began to resemble the temperature which was in the low 70's. \nOverton was scorching once again, as he shot a -4, 67. Senior captain Bed Davidson also shot under par with a -1, 70. \nBecause of the two hour delay, the men were not able to complete the second round within the confines of daylight on Saturday. Play was called due to darkness at 6:20 pm Saturday night, with most of the teams having two or three holes left.\nThe Hoosiers battled their way back during the second round to finish Saturday in fifth place, four-under-par when the horn was blown.\nWhen play resumed Sunday morning, the squad had stumbled a little out of the gate to finish the second round 2-under-par, tied for seventh. \nOne of the reasons why the Hoosiers faltered throughout Saturday was the uncontrollable effect that the rain had on how the course played. Due to the Thursday night showers, the course became extremely saturated, which made the fairways and greens much softer than anticipated. \n"The greens ran a little slower than usual. We just didn't worry about hitting it on top of the pin," Overton said.\nBecause the greens were so soft, shots would just land and not roll, which caused for a little readjustment on the part of the Hoosiers.\n"We had to change our game plan," coach Mike Mayer said. "The rain softened things up. The rain changed the condition of the course."\nAs the first round wore on, and the sun came through the clouds, the soft greens became harder little by little.\nBy the time the third round came, the Hoosiers started to get back on top of their game. \nOverton shot a 71, Davidson shot a 70, but the story of the day was sophomore Heath Peters, who shot a -3, 68.\n"The last round was a big round for Heath. He needed that kind of round. We are hoping it will be a spark for him," Mayer said.\nThe Hoosiers ended the third round one-under-par, and finished the tournament eight-over-par and tied for fifth place with conference rival Ohio State. Illinois and Minnesota finished the tourney in first and second place.\nFor as much of a comeback as they had, the Hoosiers were still disappointed with their play on Saturday morning. \n"We shot ourselves out of the tournament in the first round," Overton said.\nMayer agreed and said the team needs to play consistently.\n"We need to figure out a way to get bad rounds out of our system. We can't give away 10 strokes like we did in the first round," Mayer said.\nOverton showed again why he is a force to be reckoned with for the Hoosiers. Playing with Minnesota's and Illinois' number one players, he held his own, and sometimes impressed.\n"He played against a few All-American's out there, and they went toe to toe with them," Mayer said.\nBeing paired with defending champions Minnesota and Illinois, two of the toughest teams in the country, gave IU some very valuable experience. \n"It was interesting but also fun to play with [Minnesota and Illinois]. Now we saw that we have to work harder to catch up with them," Seibert said.\nBesides the team competition, IU had five individuals participating: freshman Brad Marek, sophomores Kirk Wood, Rob Ockenfuss, junior Ryan Cassidy and senior Aldo Jordan.\nThe Hoosiers know what they need to do in order to compete. Mayer was proud with the team's performance in the second and third rounds. \n"I can't be anymore pleased with the way they played after the first round," Mayer said. "They played with such moxy that I'm so proud of them. They represented Indiana very well"