Golfers swing to 5th place finish

During a fall season that was marked with one bad round every tournament, the IU men's golf team concluded the first half of the 2002-2003 campaign with a fifth place finish at the Xavier Invitational Tuesday in Mason, Ohio.\nIn a course of 48 hours, the Hoosiers bounced around the leaderboard. From starting the first round shooting a nine-over-par, 293 to taking the lead for the middle holes in the second round in which they finished in fourth place with a 287. This left them 12 shots back from the top spot to starting the third round in atrocious fashion, and finishing the round with a 288 which left them 16 shots from the tournament winner, Wright State. \n"We got off to a horrendous start in the third round, but these guys are tough and battled back as much as we could," coach Mike Mayer said. "They showed a lot of determination."\nMayer contributes the awful start Tuesday as a carry over from the end of the second round. He said that a poor second round finish, their play carried over to the third round.\nWhat has become commonplace for the Hoosiers -- one bad round -- did not appear to plague the squad this tournament, though the Hoosiers' first round was difficult, Mayer said.\n"We got off to a tough start," Mayer said.\nHaving been on the course, working with the players, Mayer did not have the opportunity to bask in the glory of having IU atop the leaderboard. But that opportunity did not last for long, as IU slipped down the ranks into the top four rather than the top one.\nSophomore Jeff Overton said, success will come when all the steps are taken to secure a victory.\n"The next step is to know when to think about birdies and bogies," Overton said. "The guys do a good job of battling back from a bogey, but when they make a birdie they think about it too much." \nSenior captain Ben Davidson has his own take on what the Hoosiers need to do to become a victorious squad.\n"The guys seem to be too tentative," Davidson said. "We need to stay with the game plan, no matter how low we are shooting."\nFor as dissatisfied as the Hoosiers are with their finish as a team, individually, there was one bright spot that was expected to shine all season, but has just begun to demonstrate his role as senior captain.\nDavidson had been expected all season to shoot low numbers and compete for the top individual spot at the tournaments, but it wasn't until this last tournament that Davidson posted low numbers.\nHe ended the tournament with a one-under-par, 212 for the 54 holes, which landed him in fifth place overall. \n"Ben played really well this weekend," Mayer said. "We needed him to perform, and we expected this from him all season."\nIf one positive had to come out of this tournament, Mayer said Davidson was it. \n"I had a pretty good weekend," Davidson said. "This was by far my best tournament of the fall, and it feels good to end with a good tournament." \nThe only other Hoosier to crack the top ten was Overton. \nFor most an eighth place finish, shooting two-over-par, 215 would be more than satisfactory, but not for the Hoosiers number one golfer.\n"I didn't play very well," Overton said. "I had rough starts all tournament, and I came back but I could never get under par." \nThe rest of the squad made a good showing as well. Sophomore Heath Peters shot five-over-par, 218 to finish tied for 16th. Freshman Scott Seibert shot a ten-over-par, 223, which was good to tie for 49th, and in his first competition in three weeks, senior Aldo Jordan finished tied for 75th.\nAs the Hoosiers teed off Monday morning, frost covered the course. \n"It was harder to get a feel, but we had to play through that," Overton said.\nNow, that the fall season is over, the Hoosiers are going to begin their quest for the Big Ten championship which, they will be vying for on their home course in May. \n"We know what we have to do," Mayer said. "We want to be as prepared as we can be for the Big Red Classic in Florida in March"