Team looks to bounce back at Indiana Invitational after 15th-place showing

After finishing 15th Saturday in the MountainView Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., the team’s worst finish of the season, the IU women’s golf team will try to rebound as it is host to its lone tournament of the season Monday and Tuesday, the Indiana Invitational, at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Ind.

In Tucson, the team had just one round out of the 15 the girls completed that was under par. Sophomore Kate Coons shot a 3-under-par 69 in the final round to tie for 36th along with freshman Lindsay Gahm. Coons, Gahm and the rest of the team finished 50 strokes behind tournament winner Iowa State, which had a team-total of 857 in the 54-hole tournament.

But coach Clint Wallman is confident that his team will bounce back on its home turf.
Wallman will be playing two five-girl rosters in the tournament, as well as playing sophomore Kylee Wierks as an individual in the 13-team field to help him see who’s playing coming into the postseason. The team won the Indiana Invitational last year when it was at the IU Golf Course and finished sixth at Otter Creek in 2009.

Wallman, though, said playing on a home course sometimes puts too much pressure on his players and that this may be one of their biggest obstacles.

“The biggest thing that happens when you’re hosting your own invitational is placing too many expectations on yourself because it is a ‘home invitational,’ because you supposedly know the golf course,” Wallman said on the team’s website. “Our challenge is going to be just playing it as we would play any other tournament.”