Hoosiers co-host tournament with Kentucky

After recording its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 1980, the No. 18 IU men’s golf team is ready to begin its new season.

Senior Jorge Campillo, the defending Big Ten individual champion and All-American a year ago, will lead the team at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate on Saturday and Sunday in Zionsville, Ind. IU will co-host the tournament at the Wolf Run Golf Club with Kentucky.

IU coach Mike Mayer is sending out a lineup comprising Campillo, seniors Seth Brandon and Brandon Pike, junior Alex Martin and freshman David Erdy. Senior Drew Allenspach, who played on the team that finished 21st at NCAAs last year, will compete as an individual.

Although Allenspach said he was a little disappointed to not have qualified for the team’s top five, he said he thinks the internal competition in the team will ultimately have a positive effect on its performance this year.

“It’s encouraging to see others stepping up,” he said.

Mayer said he is looking forward to seeing the Hoosiers compete in their first test of the season.

“There are a number of very good teams at Wolf Run, and it is going to be a very competitive tournament,” he said in an e-mail.

Mayer also added that patience will be important on a difficult course.

“What is important is that we go out and play to our potential,” he said. “We need to play intelligent golf and have all the patience we can have to handle a difficult track like Wolf.”

The Hoosiers enter the season ranked No. 18, with the preseason All-American Campillo ranked the seventh-best player in the country in the latest Golfweek preseason top 30.

Campillo played a lot of golf over the summer. His accomplishments included a win in the Spanish Amateur Championship and placing well in golf tournaments all over the world.

However, Campillo said he is excited to return and start the new season, his last in Bloomington.

“I’m as excited as my freshman year,” he said in an e-mail. “I can’t wait for this weekend.”

The tournament, which will feature 14 teams organized into five groups, will consist of a total of 54 holes, with 36 being played on Saturday and the remaining 18 coming Sunday.

Last year, the Hoosiers finished third out of 15 teams and had two golfers – Campillo and Brandon – place in the top five.

Allenspach said this year’s schedule is the hardest he has ever played, with many tournaments that will include elite teams that placed in the top 15 at NCAAs.

That schedule, along with the experience at NCAAs, is something Allenspach believes will help the team play at a high level this year.

“At NCAAs, we saw what it takes to be competitive at that level,” he said.