Poor weather freezes out Hoosiers at home

If there was supposed to be a home course advantage in this weekend's Indiana Invitational, Mother Nature did her part to level the playing field. The IU women's golf team finished in fourth place in the only home tournament for the team this year. \nThe Hoosiers struggled to adjust to the poor weather conditions in the first round and shot 317 as a team. Later in the day, the team put together an impressive run and shot a tournament low round of 303, to put IU in third place going into Sunday's play. \nBut, the team reverted back to its first round play and fired another 317 and finished 21 strokes behind tournament champ Purdue. The Boilermakers dominated the Invitational and defeated second place Missouri by 12 strokes.\n"We certainly shouldn't be shooting 317, we should be down in the low 300s and then the 290s," junior Karen Dennison said. "Especially with this being a home tournament, we wanted to win it, I think we could've done a lot better than fourth." \nThe Hoosiers came into the invitational looking to capture the fourth team title of the season, but the high first and third rounds cost the team a chance to win on its own course. \n"I don't know if its true when they say home course advantage, especially IU's course," junior Danah Ford said. "This course is always challenging no matter the weather."\nDennison, the No. 16 golfer in the country according to Golf Weekly Sagarin ratings, finished in a tie for ninth place. Ford struggled in the first round, but came back and fired a 74 in the second round, and finished in a tie for 15th place with senior teammate Cara Stuckey. Junior Ambry Bishop placed in a tie for 20th, freshman Molly Redfearn tied for 45th place and junior Mary Lidester rounded out the Hoosier scoring with a 58th place finish. Michigan's Kim Benedict won the individual title by beating Wisconsin's Katie Connelly by one stroke.\nBecause the invitational was played on IU's course, coach Sam Carmichael got to see his full compliment of golfers perform this weekend. Other members of the IU golf team competed as individuals. Sophomore Bethany Brunner tied for 23rd place, senior Adrienne Graessle tied for 38th place, junior Shannon Carney and freshman Megan Mulhaupt each tied for 52nd place, senior Jeana Finlinson took 68th place and freshman Katie Carlson finished in 69th place. The invitational was the first tournament of the season for Brunner, Carney and Finlinson and was the first collegiate tournament for Mulhaupt and Carlson. \nThe Hoosiers have one more tournament before the Big Ten Championships in late April. The team will travel to Ohio State to compete in the Lady Buckeye invitational on April 19 and 20. It is important for the squad to perform well there to build some momentum going into the Big Ten Championships a week later, Dennison said. \n"Our performance here won't set us back," she said. "We'll still go to Ohio State and try to win it and play to our potential"