After finishing dead last at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate, IU men's golf bounced back this weekend at the Grand Canyon Invite. The Hoosiers carded a team score of 295 on Sunday to finish in eighth place at the 14-team tournament with an overall score of 865.
The top individual performances for IU came from freshman Brock Ochsenreiter and sophomore Jack Sparrow, who both finished tied for 16th with a score of 2-under par (211).
This weekend tied Ochsenreiter's best career finish, after he also tied for 16th at Windon Memorial earlier this year. It is Sparrow's career-best finish, but since he competed as an individual, his score did not count toward the team score.
Ochsenreiter played his first nine holes at 4-under par on Sunday, but ran into trouble on the back nine and finished with a score of 1-over par 72 to give him a 54-hole score of 211 (-2).
"Brock had it going," IU coach Mike Mayer said. "Without a doubt his best tournament at Indiana University."
After shooting a career-best 67 on day one and 69 on day two, Sparrow carded a 75 in the final round to match Ochsenreiter. Senior Andrew Havill played par golf on his first 10 holes Sunday but posted a final round score of 75 to finish at 4-over par with a score of 217 and in a tie for 30th.
Junior Christian Fairbanks, who emerged as a threat at Desert Mountain, also closed the tournament with a 4-over round of 75, leaving him with a total score of 219 and a tie for 42nd at 6-over par.
Junior Brendon Doyle closed out with a 77 and tied for 59th individually at nine over par while sophomore Jake Brown tied for 63rd after his final round 73 put him at 10-over par.
IU hosts the Hoosier Invitational on April 1 and 2 at the IU Championship Golf Course, and Mayer said he has high expectations.
"We have one goal, and that's to win," Mayer said.
