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(04/25/13 11:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a 2012-13 regular season that saw three tournament titles, three individual event titles and three players named Big Ten Player of the Week, the IU men’s golf program begins the postseason this weekend at the Big Ten Championship.The event, which takes place on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind., will see a competitive field containing six top-100 teams (No. 30 Illinois, No. 31 Northwestern, No. 55 Iowa, No. 59 IU, No. 74 Purdue and No. 87 Ohio State).While the Hoosiers have added to their already significant trophy collection this season, the team has struggled with consistency. A tie for sixth place at the Big Ten Match Play Championships was followed with a twelfth-place effort at the Bayou City Collegiate Championship.After a three-week break, the Hoosiers found a streak of strong performance, collecting back-to-back victories at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular and the NYX Hoosier Invitational in Bloomington before a sixth-place finish at the Boilermaker Invitational last week.The up-and-down performance of the team has put the chance for a sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in jeopardy. IU currently sits at No. 59 in the Golfweek national rankings; it is commonly accepted that any team in the top 60 of the rankings is all but guaranteed a berth in the tournament.“College golf rankings are an anomaly. They’re hard to figure sometimes,” IU Coach Mike Mayer said. “I think the (NCAA Tournament) committee will look at a lot of things. They’ll look at wins, they’ll look at quality wins, they’ll look at tournament victories and they’ll take a peek at the rankings.”With only three teams in the field ranked higher than the Hoosiers, a strong performance will be needed in order to ensure a spot in the NCAA Regional.Senior Michael McGee said he feels confident in the team’s ability to do so.“We’ve played some of the teams before, and we have a good feel for the teams that are going to be in it,” McGee said. “There’s nobody in the conference we don’t feel we can beat, and the course is one that fits us very well.”Representing the Hoosiers this weekend will be senior Brant Peaper, McGee, senior Corey Ziedonis, junior David Mills and sophomore Andrew Fogg. While Peaper has been dominant for much of the season, leading the Hoosiers in scoring average and top-five finishes, much of the Hoosiers’ success in the spring and going forward depends on the performance of the lineup behind him.“We need to know that we have guys in the back end to step up and be clutch,” McGee said. “We need to have four solid scores going forward.”For IU men’s golf, that has been the struggle — finding consistent play behind Peaper. In order for the Hoosiers to contend for a conference championship and continue their season with NCAA Tournament play, McGee, Ziedonis, Mills and Fogg must step up and support the play of their leader.If that happens, Mayer said, watch out.“It all sets up for the Big Ten Championship,” Mayer said. “We’re not anywhere near our potential.”The Big Ten Men’s Golf Championship will begin with 36 holes Friday, followed by 18 holes on both Saturday and Sunday.
(04/22/13 4:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s golf team was unable to continue its streak of two consecutive tournament titles last weekend, finishing in a tie for sixth place at the Boilermaker Invitaitonal. IU, who had last failed to win a tournament in which it was entered in late February, met top-50 teams Kent State and Illinois, along with Big Ten rivals Purdue, Iowa and Michigan State in its final regular-season event.Despite the strength of the field, the Hoosiers’ biggest opponent may have been the weather, which could be described as uncooperative. Senior Michael McGee said the conditions made Purdue’s Kampen Course more difficult than usual.“It made the golf course really long,” McGee said. “Everything was plugging, and it was really cold. The days were long slogs, everything was wet and the bunkers were in terrible shape. We just had to stick through it.”McGee led the Hoosiers on the weekend, recording his fourth top-10 finish of the season with rounds of 75-73-70, good for two-over par 218 and a tie for ninth place. The senior, who has struggled to find consistency in the spring campaign, credited a new frame of mind to his strong play.“I’ve kind of struggled recently,” McGee said. “I had a better mindset this week, just trying to score the best I could.”Junior David Mills was the Hoosiers’ second-best performer, playing even-par golf through the first two rounds before struggling a bit on Sunday. He shot rounds of 71-73-76 for four-over par 220 and a tie for 15th place. It was Mills’ third consecutive top-16 finish.Senior Brant Peaper, the Hoosiers’ No. 1 player and Golfweek’s No. 97 player in men’s collegiate golf, finished in a tie for 27th place, shooting rounds of 76-75-73 for eight-over par 224. It was the first time since November’s Warrior Wave Intercollegiate that Peaper was not among the top-two finishers for IU.McGee said he feels Peaper’s play was an aberration and that the senior will continue his strong play in the future.“We know Brant’s going to be there,” McGee said. “He’s always going to be solid for us, and he throws in low rounds on a consistent basis.”Senior Corey Ziedonis shot rounds of 75-75-78, good for 12-over par 228 and a tie for 41st place.Ziedonis finished one shot ahead of sophomore Andrew Fogg, who, in only his fifth event of the season, strung together rounds of 76-74-79 for 229 and a tie for 45th place. IU Coach Mike Mayer said his team performed well enough to win the event.“I think we played very well at times, but we didn’t do the simple things very well,” Mayer said. “I don’t think anybody ran away with (the tournament). If we had taken care of business, we would have won the tournament.”The No. 55 Hoosiers will begin the postseason next week at the Big Ten Championships in French Lick, Ind., once again attempting to ensure their spot in the NCAA Tournament field.
(04/19/13 3:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>What a difference six weeks can make.The IU men’s golf team was scuffling Feb. 24. The Hoosiers had not won a tournament since the season-opening Northern Intercollegiate in early September and were coming off a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Match Play Championship and a 12th-place finish at the Bayou City Collegiate Championships.A final-round push to capture a title at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular in mid-March and another trophy at the NYX Hoosier Invitational two weeks ago have not only broken the Hoosiers’ run of poor form, but have given the team positive momentum heading the postseason.“We got some momentum in Florida, and I think that’s carried through throughout the spring,” Mayer said. “We’re getting more competition within the team, and that also helps. We’ve got some more people stepping up.”Among those who have stepped up for the Hoosiers is sophomore Andrew Fogg, who captured his first career first-place finish at the NYX Hoosier Invitational two weeks ago. Fogg, who was left out of the lineup for the tournament and played as an individual, was named Big Ten Player of the Week for his efforts, joining Michael McGee and Brant Peaper as Hoosiers to collect the award this season.The strong team play as of late has put to rest many early-season questions about the ability of the Hoosiers to find depth behind standout senior Brant Peaper, who has held down the No. 1 position all season.“We’ve had great play at times from (senior) Michael McGee, we’ve had great play from (senior) Corey Ziedonis, and we finally got some great play from (junior) David Mills last tournament,” Mayer said. “They’ve stepped up at times, but not as consistent as we need to be. We’re going to need more consistency from those three.”The Hoosiers will travel to West Lafayette this Saturday for the Boilermaker Invitational, an event in which they are defending champions. Despite a strong field featuring five Big Ten opponents, Mayer said his team’s biggest obstacle to a third-straight victory could be the weather.“We’ve got to handle the weather,” Mayer said. “It’s going to be cold, which is not uncommon for West Lafayette this time of year. We’re just going to have to deal with it and be better and stronger than everybody else.”This weekend’s event will be the final regular-season opportunity for the Hoosiers to ensure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. IU sits at No. 55 in the Golfweek national rankings, dropping two positions despite its recent victories.“We definitely haven’t earned it yet,” Ziedonis said. “The pressure is definitely there, but we just want to go out and play the best we can play. We aren’t worried about (NCAA) regionals yet.”The No. 55 Hoosiers will tee off 8:45 a.m. Saturday at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette.
(04/08/13 1:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 53 IU men’s golf team added another piece of hardware to its collection for the 2012-13 season, winning its third tournament at the NYX Hoosier Invitational.The Hoosiers, who have now won two consecutive events, finished five shots ahead of second-place Illinois State, recording a two-under-par 850.IU Coach Mike Mayer said the win was important, especially considering the setting. The Hoosier Invitational marks the only time the team will play in Bloomington this season.“It’s always great to defend your home turf, and it’s always good to win a college tournament,” Mayer said. “These things are tough to win.”Junior David Mills, who shot rounds of 70-66-73 for a four-under-par 209, paced the Hoosiers for the weekend. His second-round score of five-under-par 66 was a career low.Despite his stellar play, Mills was unable to capture his first collegiate individual title, falling one shot short of fellow Hoosier sophomore Andrew Fogg, who carded rounds of 65-75-68 for a five-under-par 208. Perhaps more impressive than Fogg’s triumph were the circumstances in which it came — due to struggles earlier in the spring season, Fogg was dropped to the Indiana “B” team this weekend.Mayer said Fogg’s breakout win was not as much of a surprise as it would seem.“We’re thrilled for Andrew, but I’m not surprised,” Mayer said. “He’s got the ability to do that. He’s been playing very, very well. “It’s extremely tough to win these tournaments individually.”Seniors Brant Peaper, John Beringer, Corey Ziedonis and Michael McGee all contributed to the team’s victory in their final career home event.Peaper continued his strong season, shooting rounds of 70-69-73 for a one-under-par 212 and eighth place individually, his 12th career top-10 finish.Beringer, playing only his third event of the season, finished the weekend at five-over-par 218 with rounds of 71-71-76. Ziedonis shot rounds of 68-77-75 to finish the weekend at seven-over-par 220 and McGee scored 80-76-68 for an 11-over-par 224.Beringer said the victory in the seniors’ final event in Bloomington was something special.“You never want to let anybody beat you on your home turf, and we took care of business this week,” he said. “It feels good.”Mayer, whose team is fighting to ensure a berth in the NCAA Tournament, said he remained confident the Hoosiers had done enough to earn an entry.“Winning is a statement.” Mayer said. “You can’t control what anybody else does, and I really think that when they look at the scores and see how well Illinois State played, they’ll take that into consideration.”
(04/05/13 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers are coming home.After a fall season that took place entirely outside of Bloomington and an opening portion of the spring that had events in Florida and Texas, IU men’s golf will play host to and compete in its annual NYX Hoosier Invitational at the IU Golf Course this weekend.IU has historically been successful in its home event, with two first-place finishes and a pair of top-five efforts in the tournament’s four-year history.“We’re comfortable here,” IU Coach Mike Mayer said. “We travel so much, we don’t play at home, so this gives us the opportunity to play at home.”The Hoosiers, who struggled to find their stride in the opening weeks of the spring season, won their second event of the 2012-13 campaign at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., two weeks ago. “Winning last week was huge for us,” senior Michael McGee said. “We kind of have some negative momentum throughout the spring. We would have two or three guys step up, never getting a full five-guy effort. Finally, we had four guys who played well down in Florida. I think the spring break week got us a lot of good momentum — knocked all the rust off permanently. We got the ball rolling.”The tournament will mark the final home event for seniors Brant Peaper, Corey Ziedonis, Michael McGee and John Beringer. Each one of the four-year players has been a major part of a program that has appeared in the NCAA Tournament each season during their careers, and has also collected nine event titles and 40 top-25 individual finishes during that time.Ziedonis said much of the group’s success has come from closeness on and off the course.“We’ve all grown together — academically, in the weight room, on the golf course, in practice — and we’ve all been able to keep each other accountable,” he said.Not only will it be the senior’s last time playing in Bloomington, but this weekend’s event carries added pressure for the Hoosiers, who are attempting to secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers sit at No. 60 in the national rankings. It is generally thought that teams who end the season in the top 68 of the rankings will be all but guaranteed entry into the postseason.“Winning isn’t enough,” McGee said. “We can win by five shots and lose spots in the rankings. It’s happened before in this tournament, and we’re not in a position to let that happen.”Mayer said he expects his team to be prepared for the pressure that comes with the event.“We’re going to try to make a statement with the NCAA,” he said. “We’re going to try to win this thing, and we’re trying to win it big.”
(03/18/13 2:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a slow start to the spring season, the IU men’s golf team made its strongest statement of 2013 with a victory at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular this past weekend in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.The Hoosiers’ confidence had been shaken by a pair of poor performances in February — a first-round exit in the Big Ten Match Play Championship and a 12th-place finish in the Bayou City Collegiate Championships raised questions about the team’s ability to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.IU Coach Mike Mayer said this victory erased many of those questions within the team.“We’re back on track now, on track for an NCAA bid, and we have the confidence and knowledge that we can do this,” Mayer said. “When you don’t win for a while, you lose that information and don’t remember sometimes how to win. We’ve won in the fall, and we won again in the spring. It’s a big motivation for us.”Senior Brant Peaper continued his recent run of strong play in the No. 1 spot for the Hoosiers. He shot rounds of 72-72-69 to finish at three-under-par-213, good for second place individually.For him, much of the reason for the team’s success over the weekend can be attributed to intra-squad competition to determine the lineup for the event.“The rounds we played over spring break, before the qualifying rounds, got the whole team in the competitive mood,” Peaper said.Seniors Michael McGee and Corey Ziedonis also turned in strong scores for the Hoosiers. Coming off the heels of a top-40 showing in the team’s last competition, McGee shot rounds of 73-68-75 to finish at even-par-216. He finished in a tie for fifth individually.Ziedonis earned an individual top-10 finish, as well, shooting rounds of 70-75-73 for two-over-par-218 and a tie for eighth in the field.Junior David Mills, a player tabbed by Mayer earlier in the season as important to the team’s success going forward, recorded a top-20 finish by reporting scores of 77-71-74, finishing in a tie for 16th with a six-over-par-222.The performance of McGee, Ziedonis and Mills eased concerns about the lack of depth behind Peaper, who has been a dominant player for much of the season.“Corey Ziedonis came through in a big way, Michael McGee came through and David Mills came through for us this weekend,” Mayer said. “Brant’s a great player, and I think he’s ready to win each and every week, but as far as the team goes, we needed this.”Junior Hugo Menendez was the Hoosiers’ fifth man, shooting 78-77-80 to finish at 19-over-par-235 and a tie for 67th individually.Senior John Beringer and freshmen Sean Stone and Max Kollin played individually for the Hoosiers. Beringer shot 75-74-75 for an eight-over-par-224 and a tie for 27th place, Stone recorded scores of 72-84-69 to finish at nine-over-par-225 and a tie for 32nd, and Kollin shot rounds of 79-78-84 to finish at 25-over-par-241 and a tie for 92nd place.Peaper said the victory could be what propels the team for the rest of the spring campaign.“It’ll motivate us even more to get better each day,” Peaper said. “This was a little something that tells us we’re good enough to keep this up.”The Hoosiers will return to the course April 6, for the NYX Hoosier Invitational at the IU Golf Course.
(02/22/13 1:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After watching his team struggle through periods of inconsistency and poor results in the fall season, IU men’s golf Coach Mike Mayer has abandoned unnecessary expectations, evoking the motto of late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis — “just win, baby.”“If you don’t think you have the ability or the mindset to win, you’re doing something wrong,” Mayer said. “We don’t have any goals other than winning, and that’s all we want to do.”The Hoosiers, who travel to Houston this weekend for the Bayou City College Championships, hosted jointly by the University of Houston and Rice, will put this philosophy to the test against one of the stronger fields they will face all season. The 15-team field contains six programs that boast top-50 rankings, including Texas, sitting at No. 2 in this week’s rankings.For Mayer, the prospect of playing some of the top teams in the country presents a rare chance to test his team against the best.“We love to play against the best teams in the country. We don’t get this kind of opportunity often, to play against the best, and we’re going to take it,” Mayer said.The No. 43 Hoosiers travel to Houston with a projected lineup of senior Brant Peaper, senior Michael McGee, junior David Mills, junior Hugo Menendez and senior Corey Ziedonis, Mayer said. This weekend’s event marks the Hoosiers’ first stroke-play event of the 2013 season and their second event overall after a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Match Play Championship two weeks ago.In that event, the No. 4-seeded Hoosiers were felled by No. 5 Ohio State, a result of the difficulty many players had in regaining sharpness after the offseason. “It’s always hard to come out of the winter,” Mills said, “but I think we’re ready to handle the challenge this time. We’re trying to get a little experience for the upcoming season.”As one of the only teams from outside the South in the field, the Hoosiers will attempt to overcome a lack of practice time with a strong effort in the practice round and first few holes.“Obviously we’re playing against mostly Southern teams in this tournament, but we’re going to have to overcome whatever disadvantage we may have,” Mayer said. “We’re not going to worry about that. We can’t do anything about it, so we’re going to control what we can control.”Mayer has tabbed Mills, who has played in the back end of the Hoosier lineup for the majority of the season, as one of the key players for this weekend and the spring season.“We have five key players, and I think they all can contribute, so there’s no more pressure on one than another,” Mayer said. “but if we can get David Mills playing how he’s capable of playing, that’s huge momentum for this program.”The Bayou City Collegiate Championships will tee off Friday morning at Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Tex.
(02/11/13 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a three-month competitive layoff, the IU men’s golf program returned to action at the Big Ten Match Play Championship this weekend, finishing sixth in a series of tight matches.After receiving a first-round bye at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., the fourth-seeded Hoosiers fell to No. 5 Ohio State 2-1-2. Senior Brant Peaper was the lone match winner against the Buckeyes, while seniors Michael McGee and David Mills halved their matches.IU Coach Mike Mayer described the result as closer than the scoreline indicated on a golf course that he said favored experience.“We had a chance to close out the match. We felt like we kind of gave the match away,” Mayer said. “It’s a different kind of format, when you sit when the other guys play and get accustomed to the golf course. I think there’s a big advantage in not having the bye and being out there playing.”The first-round loss placed the Hoosiers in the consolation bracket, where they squared off with Purdue, defeating the Boilermakers 3-0-2. McGee, senior Corey Ziedonis, and sophomore Andrew Fogg won their respective matches, while Peaper and Mills halved each of their matchups. Mayer said the victory, in which no Hoosier golfer lost a match against the rival Boilermakers, was critical for the team’s confidence.“Progressively, we got better and better every round,” Mayer said. “We want to beat everybody, but we especially want to beat Purdue, so we had a little more motivation. “We just kind of took care of business with Purdue. It was a lopsided victory.”The Hoosiers’ triumph over Purdue moved them into the fifth-place match, where they met three-time defending champion Northwestern. IU fell by way of tiebreaker after a 2-2-1 finish against the Wildcats.Peaper led the way for the Hoosiers, beating national top-100 player Nicholas Losole 2-and-1. The senior standout’s performance over the weekend was the step up that the team needed, Mayer said.“Brant’s our one guy, and he played like our one guy. He’s one of the top players in this conference and in this country, and he proved that,” Mayer said.Mills also won his matchup against Northwestern, beating Matthew Negri 5-and-4. Andrew Fogg halved his match for the Hoosiers, who lost the match on a total-holes-won tiebreaker.Illinois won the event without losing an individual match. The Illini’s sole dropped point came in the quarterfinals, when Charlie Danielson halved his match with Michigan’s Matt Alessi.The Hoosiers’ sixth-place finish, while not the intended result, provides optimism for the spring season, Mayer said.“Overall we accomplished some of the things we wanted to. Obviously we wanted to win, but we got better and better,” Mayer said.Much of the team’s prospects for the spring season come in the form of Peaper, who has been a steady force in an otherwise inconsistent team.“Brant has played really well,” McGee said. “We have a clear number one guy, and he’s our team leader without a doubt. He’s off to a good start, so we can count on him every week, but we need to give him help and put up numbers that are comparable to his to win.”
(02/10/13 6:25pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a three-month competitive layoff, the IU men’s golf program returned to action at the Big Ten Match Play Championship this weekend, finishing sixth in a series of tight matches.After receiving a first-round bye at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., the fourth-seeded Hoosiers fell to No. 5 Ohio State 2-1-2. Senior Brant Peaper was the lone match winner against the Buckeyes, while seniors Michael McGee and David Mills halved their matches.IU Coach Mike Mayer described the result as closer than the scoreline indicated on a golf course that he said favored experience.“We had a chance to close out the match. We felt like we kind of gave the match away,” Mayer said. “It’s a different kind of format, when you sit when the other guys play and get accustomed to the golf course. I think there’s a big advantage in not having the bye and being out there playing.”The first-round loss placed the Hoosiers in the consolation bracket, where they squared off with Purdue, defeating the Boilermakers 3-0-2. McGee, senior Corey Ziedonis, and sophomore Andrew Fogg won their respective matches, while Peaper and Mills halved each of their matchups. Mayer said the victory, in which no Hoosier golfer lost a match against the rival Boilermakers, was critical for the team’s confidence.“Progressively, we got better and better every round,” Mayer said. “We want to beat everybody, but we especially want to beat Purdue, so we had a little more motivation. “We just kind of took care of business with Purdue. It was a lopsided victory.”The Hoosiers’ triumph over Purdue moved them into the fifth-place match, where they met three-time defending champion Northwestern. IU fell by way of tiebreaker after a 2-2-1 finish against the Wildcats.Peaper led the way for the Hoosiers, beating national top-100 player Nicholas Losole 2-and-1. The senior standout’s performance over the weekend was the step up that the team needed, Mayer said.“Brant’s our one guy, and he played like our one guy. He’s one of the top players in this conference and in this country, and he proved that,” Mayer said. Mills also won his matchup against Northwestern, beating Matthew Negri 5-and-4. Andrew Fogg halved his match for the Hoosiers, who lost the match on a total-holes-won tiebreaker.Illinois won the event without losing an individual match. The Illini’s sole dropped point came in the quarterfinals, when Charlie Danielson halved his match with Michigan’s Matt Alessi.The Hoosiers’ sixth-place finish, while not the intended result, provides optimism for the spring season, Mayer said.“Overall we accomplished some of the things we wanted to. Obviously we wanted to win, but we got better and better,” Mayer said.Much of the team’s prospects for the spring season come in the form of Peaper, who has been a steady force in an otherwise inconsistent team.“Brant has played really well,” McGee said. “We have a clear number one guy, and he’s our team leader without a doubt. He’s off to a good start, so we can count on him every week, but we need to give him help and put up numbers that are comparable to his to win.”The Hoosiers’ next competition tees off February 22 at the Bayou City Collegiate Championships in Houston.
(02/08/13 5:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It is often said in competitive golf that the goal is not to beat the opponent but to beat the course. For all but one tournament on the IU men’s golf program’s 2012-13 schedule, the focus is placed squarely on shooting the lowest possible score the golf course allows. For this weekend’s Big Ten Match Play Championship, however, an entirely different rule applies.“This is more of a head-to-head competition. It’s a totally different animal than regular stroke play,” IU Coach Mike Mayer said. “Once you get into it, it’s a little more cutthroat in the head-to-head format.”In the Match Play Championship, which tees off Friday morning, conference teams will square off in individual matchups in a bracket-style tournament.Each team will consist of five players, each of whom will face off against a single player from the opposing team in the bracket. When a player wins his individual matchup, he wins a point for his team, who will advance with the attainment of three points.For the Hoosiers, who struggled with consistency and confidence during the fall campaign, the tournament provides an opportunity to start the spring season on the right foot.“If we’re able to have a successful tournament, we’ll take that into the spring, and we’ll be able to know we’ve beaten all these teams before when we reach the Big Ten stroke play tournament,” Mayer said.As many Big Ten schools are located in areas that are not conducive to golf in the winter months, the Match Play allows the conference to gain competitive experience before the larger tournaments begin.“Part of the reason for the tournament is to get Big Ten teams some competition without facing Southern schools who are in better shape weather-wise,” Mayer said.The tournament takes place at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., a course Mayer said will provide a challenge for his team.“It’s an extremely difficult golf course,” Mayer said. “If you don’t have a bye and play in the morning round, I think you have a tremendous advantage of being out on that golf course and knowing that golf course."The Hoosiers’ lineup for the weekend consists of senior Brant Peaper, senior Michael McGee, junior Hugo Menendez, senior David Mills and sophomore Andrew Fogg, four of whom competed in this event last spring.“To have four players who know that golf course is a tremendous advantage for us,” Mayer said.“We have David playing five this week, but I don’t look at him as a five guy for us. He’s somebody who’s played in a PGA event and played in the U.S. Amateur this summer, and I think he has more experience than most of the other guys in the field at his position.”Coming off a three-month competitive layoff, Peaper said the Hoosiers’ offseason regimen will greatly help the team this weekend.“It was not a break for us,” Peaper said. “We were in the weight room four times a week, so we should not miss a beat. It’s been really beneficial for us.”The Hoosiers, who received the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the tournament, face off against the winner of No. 5Ohio State and No. 12 Wisconsin Friday afternoon.
(01/31/13 7:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2012-13 season presented a challenge for the IU men’s golf program. Four-year letter winners and program stalwarts Chase Wright and David Erdy graduated, leaving Coach Mike Mayer’s program without something that is direly needed in collegiate golf — a star.Fortunately for the Hoosiers, the lack of a standout player has bred depth in a program that boasts five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.“This team is as deep as any team I’ve been around,” Mayer said. “Parity can be a good thing, and for us, I think it is.”The Hoosiers’ fall season, in which all 11 team members had scoring averages within seven shots of one another, was a lesson in the benefits and perils of team parity.After a season-opening championship at the Northern Intercollegiate and a second-place finish at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate in the first two weeks of the season, the team struggled with consistency. A last-place finish at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in October capped a run of three tournaments in which the Hoosiers finished outside the top five.“I didn’t know that we were ready to win as quickly as we did,” Mayer said. “I don’t think we handled it that well. We exceeded our expectations at that point.”Mayer said the poor mid-season form is due to mental barriers and the absence of senior Michael McGee, who contracted mononucleosis and was unable to play much of the season.“(McGee) was one of our steady, top players,” senior Brant Peaper said. “But, nobody played to their potential in the fall, which was disappointing.”After an offseason of heavy weight-room training and strength-building, the Hoosiers move into the spring season still searching for a solid on-course leader, Mayer said.“It’s hard to be successful at the level we’re playing, against the competition we’re playing, without that guy that’s really a dominant player,” Mayer said. The most likely candidate for the position, he said, is Peaper, who led the Hoosiers in both scoring average and top-five finishes in the fall season. A first-place individual finish at Wolf Run gave a glimpse of Peaper’s potential dominance.“Even though Brant has led the way, we need Brant to step up,” Mayer said. “I’m not saying he isn’t (a dominant player). He showed that at Wolf Run, but we need him to step it up.”The program begins the 2013 half of the season at the Big Ten Match Play Championship on Feb. 8-9 in Bradenton, Fla., an event the Hoosiers struggled in last season. That being said, players on the team said they are looking forward to the opportunity this season.“If we play up to our abilities, we can definitely win it like in the past,” Peaper said.Although the Hoosiers will try to capture their second victory of the season in Bradenton, their goals stretch far beyond February.“We want to make NCAA Tournament play, but that’s not an easy thing to do,” Mayer said. “We want to win a Big Ten Championship. We came second last year, losing to Illinois by three shots.“We’ve been able to develop a culture of making it in postseason play, but we need to make it further in postseason play, and that’s what we want to do.”