After 10 regular season events spanning nearly eight months, Indiana women’s golf began its postseason this weekend. At the Big Ten Championships at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, California, the Hoosiers took fourth place.
The Hoosiers earned a 32-over-par team score of 872 strokes following three rounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The field of the 18 Big Ten teams included nine ranked in clippd’s recent top 50, fronted by No. 2 USC. Indiana entered the conference championships ranked No. 46. All nine finished in the top 10, and unranked Penn State overperformed and finished seventh.
A sluggish start on Friday slumped the Hoosiers to ninth place after day one. Indiana shot a combined 12 over par for a score of 292 strokes.
Junior Katie Poots and redshirt senior Maddie May led the way for the team with 2-over-par scores of 72 in round one. The two combined for six birdies and eight bogeys. Poots and redshirt junior Sheridan Clancy each had a double bogey in the round.
USC held a strong lead after Friday’s round, securing the only under-par score for the day, a 3-under-par 277. The Trojans brought a five-stroke lead into day two, with Ohio State and Illinois both shooting 2 over par and ending the first round tied for second place.
All four of USC’s scoring golfers earned marks of even par or better in round one. While no golfer had more than three birdies in the round, the four had a collective eight bogeys for the entire round to go along with 53 total pars.
The Hoosiers began to climb the standings in day two. Even par scores of 70 strokes from Poots and Clancy led Indiana to a score of 285 Saturday, which was 5 over par.
With zero double bogeys accounted for in the round, Indiana muscled its way to sixth place after the second round. The Hoosiers were helped greatly by an 11-over-par round for Oregon, a 19-over-par round for Northwestern and a 22-over-par round for Penn State.
Headlined by a spectacular six-birdie Saturday by junior Bailey Shoemaker, USC continued to breeze through the first two rounds, shooting 1 under par in the second round and stretching its lead over Ohio State and Purdue to 11 strokes.
Shoemaker’s 5-under-par score of 65 put her in first place individually, with her teammate, sophomore Jasmine Koo, residing in third place and trailing by just four shots.
Sunday proved to be the most difficult day for the field of 18, with zero teams earning an under-par score for the round. Indiana’s 15-over-par 295 was fifth best of the round, and the Hoosiers jumped two more spots to solidify their fourth-place title.
After third round scores of 74, 74 and 75 respectively, May, Clancy and Poots all finished the tournament tied for 16th place individually. They each went 7 over par with final scores of 217.
USC once again earned the best score of the round Sunday. Its 8-over-par 288 was more than enough to seal the title of Big Ten champion, the program’s 10th conference championship.
The Trojans finished with a 4-over-par final score of 844 strokes, 12 shots ahead of second-place Ohio State, and a record lowest 54-hole winning score for the event.
Koo jumped Shoemaker individually after the final round. Shoemaker’s 4-over-par score of 74 was not enough to ward off her fellow Trojan as Koo’s 2-under-par 68 was the round’s best, allowing Koo to take home her fourth individual title of the season.
With its conference championship title, USC secured a spot in the NCAA regionals. Indiana will wait and hope for selection, which will be announced April 29.
If selected, the Hoosiers will continue their postseason with the NCAA regionals, slated to take place May 11-13, with locations and tee times to be determined.
