IU men's golf debuts at 15th in 1st Golfstat rankings

The IU men’s golf team debuted at 15th in Golfstat’s first national rankings of the year this week, coming off of a third-place finish at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational last weekend in Olympia, Ill. \nThe Hoosiers finished ahead of several ranked teams – including last year’s defending national champions, Stanford – at the match. \nThis week, the team prepares for their next tournament, the Windon Memorial Classic in Glencoe, Ill., held Oct. 7 and 8. \nThe Classic, hosted by Big Ten rival Northwestern, will be played at the Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe, Ill. The tournament boasts a bevy of solid competition, as four of the 13 teams in the field finished in the top 50 of the GolfWeek/Sagarin rankings last spring. Southern Methodist University returns to the field as the defending champions. \nIU coach Mike Mayer said his team needs to work on the little things and stronger finishes if they plan on closing the gap between being a good team and being a great team.\n“We need to be stronger both physically and mentally out on the course,” Mayer said.\nThe Hoosiers’ top two finishers last week – juniors Jorge Campillo and Seth Brandon – are a large reason the team has an 8-7 record against top-25 teams this season. \nMayer said in a press release that Campillo’s performance last weekend at Olympia Fields was arguably the best of his IU career, but the Caceres, Spain, native knows there are things he can improve on to take his game to the next level. \n“I need to work on my woods game,” Campillo said. “I hit my driver and 3-wood well on the first day (last weekend), but after that I struggled, and I know I can make some better shots.”\nBrandon, on the other hand, did not have his best performance last weekend but still placed 18th individually. Brandon said he believes that making smart decisions on the course can help the Hoosiers in the late rounds of tournaments. \n“We were six shots out of second (at Olympia Fields),” Brandon said. “If we stay under control and think a little better, we can close that gap.” \nThe Windon Memorial begins with 36 holes of golf Sunday and 18 more on Monday in Illinois.