As the fairways thaw out, Indiana women’s golf prepares to resume its season after the winter hiatus. The Hoosiers, who were No. 39 in clippd's rankings released Feb. 25, are headlined by No. 65 senior Madison Dabagia.
As the Hoosiers’ 2024 Big Ten Championship remains in recent memory, head coach Brian May’s squad provides a strong sense of hope for a program that is used to success, having won eight Big Ten titles in its history. The team now has just five spring events scheduled before the postseason begins in April.
Indiana started the fall calendar on a high note, taking second place at the Boilermaker Classic at Kampen-Colser Golf Course in West Lafayette. While the Hoosiers finished one stroke behind University of Mississippi, Dabagia earned a first-place individual finish, shooting 7-under after three rounds. Dabagia, who is the only Indiana native of the roster, accumulated four top-10 finishes in just five fall tournaments.
Indiana finished in the top 10 in each of the four following events of the fall season. The Hoosiers placed eighth at the Wolverine Invitational, sixth at the Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship, fifth at the Illini Women’s Invitational and eighth at the Landfall Tradition. The Hoosiers’ best score of the season came at the Illini Invitational, where they finished 11-under par after three rounds.
Indiana’s roster includes three international golfers: redshirt junior Sheridan Clancy of Perth, Australia, junior Katie Poots of Belfast, Ireland, and redshirt senior Maddie May, the final remanent of the 2023-24 team, who is from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Dabagia, Clancy, Poots and May have all been in the lineup in each of the Hoosiers’ seven tournaments of the season. The fifth lineup spot, however, has been shared by freshman Grace Heiss, sophomore Cara Heisterkamp and freshman Saia Rampersaud. With Indiana attempting to rely on its youth for the final slot in the lineup, the three have averaged a score of nearly 16-over-par, with none of them proving to be a permanent staple in the lineup.
Rampersaud joined the core four at Indiana’s first event of the spring, the Florida Atlantic Paradise Invitational at Osprey Point Golf Course in Boca Raton, Florida, on Feb. 2-4. The event was headlined by six top-50 teams including Indiana, all of which finished in the top seven. Poots and Dabagia led the way for Indiana, with 11th and 16th place titles, respectively.
The Chevron Collegiate in Humble, Texas, was the second of Indiana’s five spring events of the season and took place Feb. 23-24 at the Golf Club of Houston. The field of 17 included Oregon, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mississippi State University and University of Arkansas. The Hoosiers finished in ninth place, fronted by a 2-over-par score from Dabagia.
Following the Chevron Collegiate, Indiana will participate in two events in the state of Georgia. First, the Valspar Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta from March 14-15, then the Liz Murphey Collegiate at University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens on March 28-30. Both tournaments will feature zero current top-30 teams.
The final regular season event for the Hoosiers, the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational, is set to tee off from Ohio State University Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio, from April 17-18. Kent State University, Iowa State University and Northwestern will headline the group of 14 teams in Columbus.
Postseason competition will begin for Indiana with the Big Ten Championships from April 21-26 at Oakmont Golf Club in Glendale, California. All 18 Big Ten teams will participate, eight of which are currently in the top 50. The winner of the conference championship will automatically qualify for an NCAA Regional on May 11-13. The top-five teams and low individual not on an advancing team from each of the six regionals will participate in the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, from May 22-27.
Indiana women’s golf’s season continues with three months of action and seven events remaining as the Hoosiers search for their first national championship.
