Rain cuts tournament short

Torrential rain Saturday night and Sunday morning led officials to cancel the third round of the Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus, Ohio. With the results from the first two rounds standing up as the final results, the Hoosiers ended the tournament tied for sixth place with Auburn with a two round score of 592. UNLV won the tournament with a score of 576 (288-288).\nIU's charge was lead by the efforts of freshman Jeff Overton in the second round. Overton shot a career-low three-under-par 68. Overton's 68 was also the lowest score posted by an IU golfer this season and tied Ohio State's Scott Miller and Purdue's Lee Williamson for the lowest round of the tournament. Overton played bogey-free golf, recording three birdies alongside 15 pars.\n"That was an outstanding round for a freshman in that kind of a competition," coach Mike Mayer said. "It was a pleasure to watch."\nOverton's second round marked an 11-shot recovery from his first round score of 79. He attributes his success to an adjustment made in his putting game between rounds. Overton changed the grip on his putter and the angle of his wrist on putts after talking to Mayer between rounds.\n"It (the new grip) gave me more confidence," Overton said. "Putting's all mental."\nFor Mayer, Overton's performance in soggy conditions on Ohio State's famed Scarlet course was something that he had been hoping to see all year.\n"That's what we expect of Jeff," Mayer said. "In the first round he had that potential, but couldn't quite come through. This performance bodes well for his future and the future of this program."\nOverton ended up the tournament tied for 17th place after his torrid second round. However, he did not even finish as the lowest scoring player in the tournament for IU. That distinction belonged to junior Ben Davidson. Davidson shot 146 (72-74) to end tied for 14th place.\n"My short game was serving me well," Davidson said. "I was making birdie putts when I really needed them."\nMayer was impressed with the overall team effort put in by the Hoosiers. IU was able to beat out several highly ranked teams en route to their sixth-place finish. Auburn, which tied the Hoosiers for sixth place, is ranked 12th in the nation by Golfweek magazine. IU also beat 13th ranked Toledo by three strokes.\n"This is the kind of team effort we've been looking for," Mayer said. "We didn't finish it in the first round, but we got the confidence to play better."\nIn particular, he praised the efforts of freshman Rob Ockenfuss, who recovered from an opening round score of 86 to shoot 75 in the second round.\n"I have to give him a pat on the back for going from what was an embarrassing 86 to a solid 75," Mayer said. "We needed him, and Rob did his job."\nThough the team had a solid finish, both Mayer and the players were disappointed that they were unable to get the third round underway.\n"Everybody felt we could come back and finish in the top four or five," Overton said.\nThe Hoosiers will have to wait until next week to pick up the ground on their rivals and get closer to a bid to the NCAA Tournament. IU goes up the road from Columbus to Akron, Ohio to play in the Firestone Intercollegiate on April 20-21.\n"We've made positive strides every tournament," Mayer said. "We can be a very competitive team"