Hoosiers place 10th, Overton 4th, in fall finale

In its final tournament of the fall season, the IU men's golf team was victim to a difficult course, bad weather and one of the toughest fields it faced this fall. Despite starting the second day of competition tied for sixth, the Hoosiers couldn't keep up with the rest of the field and finished 10th at the inaugural Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge.\nMonday, the first day of competition, was originally scheduled for two rounds and 36 holes of play, but play was suspended because of rain five holes into the second round, which shortened the tournament from three rounds to two and made a difficult course even tougher. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is the third-ranked course in Golf Magazine's Top 100 Golf Courses to play behind Pinehurst and Pebble Beach. \nThe conditions did not help the Hoosier cause, but senior Jeff Overton overcame the weather for his fourth consecutive top-five finish. Had it not been for the weather, IU coach Mike Mayer said he believed Overton could have done even better.\n"Jeff didn't have his A-game today, but he knows how to handle difficult situations. That is the difference between him and most other golfers," Mayer said in a statement. "He knows when to attack and when to lay back. If we could have gotten one more round in, I really think (Overton) could have won this tournament."\nAfter the first round, Overton stood in a tie for sixth place after firing a 73, three shots behind the lead. In the second round, Overton was able to improve slightly, firing a 72 to climb into a three-way tie for fourth along with University of Minnesota sophomore Bronson La'Cassie and University of California Los Angeles freshman Peter Campbell. With a two-round total of 145, Overton finished three strokes behind the champion, Arizona State junior Alejandro Canizares.\nEven though Overton improved, most of the Hoosier lineup faltered in the second round. Junior Scott Seibert improved on his first-round score of 84 by shooting a 77. However, senior Heath Peters and freshman Santiago Quirarte dropped from a tie for No. 19 into a tie for No. 33, and junior Brad Marek shot 82 in the second round to follow an opening-round 81. \nThe regression dropped the Hoosiers into 10th place with a team score of 611, two shots behind ninth place Purdue. Minnesota claimed the top spot after overcoming a 13-stroke deficit and beating the University of Southern California in a tie-breaker. Despite the first-place finish by Minnesota, the Pac-10 won the conference challenge. The Pac-10 teams shot a combined plus-162, beating the Big Ten's plus-191.\nThe IU men's golf team will not be in action again until the spring season, something to which Mayer is already looking forward.\n"We could have played better, but we did the best we could under the conditions," Mayer said. "We will work hard over the next few months to get ready for our first tournament of the spring in Puerto Rico"