After finishing sixth of 14 teams at Wolf Run Intercollegiate, IU men’s golf travels north this weekend for the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational.
The three-day, 54-hole tournament will take place at Olympia Fields Country Club, a course that was host to two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, five Western Opens and a U.S. Senior Open, among others.
Representing the Cream and Crimson at Olympia Fields this weekend include, in order, senior Andrew Havill, junior Brendon Doyle, sophomore Jake Brown, freshman Brock Ochsenreiter and junior Mathew Weber.
Keegan Vea was dropped from the top 5 after he finished 25-over for the tournament at Wolf Fun. Also, Brown and Ochsenreiter swap spots following a seven-over performance by Brown and a tournament of growing pains for Ochsenreiter.
Sophomore Jack Sparrow will fill the No. 6 spot and play as an individual as he continues to recover from a bruised rib.
“It’s always hard to pick a lineup, especially for a tournament like Olympia,” IU Coach Mike Mayer said. “We’re simply taking the six players we think can help our team be successful.”
Mayer said he hopes for a better performance out of his team this week because the field this weekend is perhaps the toughest IU will face in the regular season. Conference foe Illinois, who IU caught glimpses of last weekend, checks in at No. 3 in the country after winning Wolf Run.
The field also includes No. 1 Texas, No. 2 USC, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 16 Alabama, No. 18 Florida State, No. 19 Arizona State, No. 24 Baylor, Army, UNLV, North Carolina, Northwestern, Purdue and Texas A&M.
“It gives us an opportunity early on to see how we stack up,” Mayer said. “We left a lot of strokes on the golf course at Wolf Run, so we need to tighten some things up.”
In the Hoosiers’ last two appearances at Olympia Fields they’ve finished a combined 27th out of 30. Two years ago they finished last out of 15 teams, and last year they improved mildly to a 12th place finish.
A top-tier course with a top-tier field is bound to pose problems for any team. This year’s Hoosiers are no different. Talk of the strides they’ve taken the past two years means this weekend may give insight into what’s coming down the road.
“It’s another long, brutal golf course,” Havill said. “But we’re excited to compete with the best players in the country.”
