Sixth place puts NCAAs in doubt

A miracle will be needed for the men's golf team to have an opportunity to play in the postseason, coach Mike Mayer said.\nIn the Hoosiers' last tournament of the season -- the 2003 Big Ten Championships -- expectations were as high as their hopes for a run to the regional tournament. But as luck had it, a sixth place finish this weekend might have ended what hope the men in khaki and crimson had. \nThe team will find out at 5 p.m. today when the NCAA releases its regional bids.\n"It's kind of disappointing," freshman Scott Seibert said. "The team didn't play as well as we would have liked to."\nComing out firing, IU slowed down and eventually finished the tournament at an almost dead stop. After the first round, the Hoosiers were three strokes out of first place with a one-over-par 285, a tempo which was kept for the first nine holes of the second round. \n"We played solid during the first nine of the second round," Mayer said. "We didn't play great, but we didn't make mistakes. It was the fourth nine of the tournament that was the ballgame for us."\nDuring the second half of the second round, IU began pressing and trying to "make stuff happen," Mayer said. This led to a hike in the their score of 298, 14-over-par.\nOn Saturday, the men had an extra hour to sleep with play starting an hour later. The extra sleep appeared to pay off as the Hoosiers had a nice round said Mayer.\nTheir score of 287, put them at three-over for the day and 18-over-par for the tournament. The final round on Sunday was played under overcast skies and temperatures in the 40s and 50s, and saw IU shoot 10-over-par for 294. \n"We couldn't get things going," sophomore Heath Peters said. "We just weren't firing on all cylinders."\nPeters was the second highest Hoosier with a seven-over 293 landing the returning sophomore in 16th place. Classmate Jeff Overton was the top Hoosier in eighth place with a score of one-over-par 285, good enough for second team all-Big Ten. Senior Aldo Jordan started the tournament hot shooting below part, but ended the weekend nine-over to tie for 21st. Seibert played consistently, shooting a 13-over-par, 297 to tie for 32nd, and senior captain Ben Davidson rounded out the Hoosiers with a 16-over-par, 300 to tie for 40th in the 55-man field. \nThe University of Minnesota won the conference title, while Matt Anderson of the Golden Gophers took home the individual title.