Invite is last before Big Tens

This weekend the IU women's golf team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational. The Hoosiers are coming off a fourth place finish in the Indiana Invitational two weeks ago and have had a week of practice to prepare for the Lady Buckeye Invite. \n"The Ohio State tournament is always a good tournament," junior Karen Dennison said. "Each tournament is different, and we didn't have a tournament last week so we got a lot of practice in."\nThe Lady Buckeye will feature a field of 11 teams including Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, IU, Kent State, Marshall, Methodist College (N.C.), Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio University, Ohio State and Toledo. \nThis will be the 17th time the Hoosiers have competed in the Lady Buckeye and have won the tournament twice, in 1987 and 1990. Last year IU finished fourth in what was a rain-shortened event, and this year's participants can expect some of the same weather conditions. On numerous occasions this season, and almost all of last year, the Hoosiers have had to deal with poor weather conditions. And while the team knows everyone must play in the same conditions, they said they believe the experience the team has with poor weather might serve as an advantage.\n"In spring, the weather is always terrible," junior Ambry Bishop said. "So far nothing compares to last year's weather. We have become very experienced playing in poor weather conditions over the past year, and I don't really think any weather condition surprises our team anymore. You hope for good weather, but if it is poor, you prepare for it and just go and play."\nThe team's finish in the Indiana Invitational was disappointing because it was the only home tournament of the season for the Hoosiers. But the team will not let the performance of two weeks ago affect how they approach the Lady Buckeye.\n"We were disappointed with our finish at our invite, but it won't set us back," senior Cara Stuckey said. "If anything, it makes us more anxious to play in another tournament to try and eliminate our mistakes we made in the previous tournament so we can compete next time around."\nFor the Lady Buckeye, each team is allowed to play six golfers but only the top four scores will count toward the team's total. The six golfers chosen by IU coach Sam Carmichael to compete in the event will be Stuckey, juniors Danah Ford, Dennison and Bishop, sophomore Bethany Brunner, whose impressive play during the Indiana Invitational earned her a trip to Columbus, and freshman Molly Redfearn. \nOhio State's course, which was designed by the same person who designed Augusta National, home of the Masters, is deemed by many as the best collegiate golf course in the nation. The Hoosiers will take the course Saturday beginning the first round which will begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., with the second round following immediately. Sunday's final round will also feature a shotgun start.