Hoosiers face strong field at tourney

The IU women's golf team will compete in its second tournament of the fall at the 2003 Lady Northern Invitational. Ohio State will host the event Sept. 27-28, to be held at The Ohio State University Scarlet Golf Course. The 2004 Big Ten Championships will also be held at the Scarlet course in April.\nThe tournament will consist of the first two rounds being played on Saturday, with the final round on Sunday.\nThe Hoosiers return to Columbus after finishing in a tie for second place last fall. In 20 appearances at the Lady Northern, IU has won the event 10 times. The Hoosiers have finished out of the top five only once, with a seventh place finish in 2000.\nAfter a disappointing finish in last week's Mary Fossum Invitational, the Hoosiers have been working hard to prepare for another strong field at the Lady Northern and want to put last week's performance behind them.\n"After last weekend, everyone on the team has different areas of their game that they need to work on," coach Sam Carmichael said. "We are trying to address those areas going into the Lady Northern. Golf is a game that you do not always play well. Each player needs to focus on playing to their potential. If the team can do that, we will do okay."\nSenior Karen Dennison is looking to rebound from her performance last week, as her final round 83 was the highest score she has posted since the 2002 NCAA Regionals. \nDennison is returning to the Scarlet course after a second place finish last year, including a career-low 68 in the second round. She explained that she is working hard to prepare for the Lady Northern after some tough rounds last week. \n"I've just gone back to basics and getting my club back on line," Dennison said. "This summer I shot an 84, but I worked a few days with coach Carmichael, and I turned around and won the [Indiana Women's] State Amateur. I'm hoping that I can do the same this weekend by putting some work in and coming back strong."\nThe Lady Northern Invitational features all 11 teams from the Big Ten, as well as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kent State. Ohio State is the defending Big Ten champion, Michigan State won last week's Mary Fossum Invitational, and Kent State is the defending Lady Northern champion. \nJunior Bethany Brunner feels that in order to play well, the Hoosiers need to focus on their individual abilities, and not concern themselves with the strength of their competition.\n"We can only worry about our team, and not how our competition is playing. That will hopefully allow us to play to the best of our abilities, and really help us to see how we stack up against the [Big Ten] conference," Brunner said.\nThe Hoosiers will take six golfers to the Lady Northern. Seniors Ambry Bishop, Danah Ford and Dennison, along with sophomore Molly Redfearn, all played in this tournament last year. Also traveling with the team this weekend will be Brunner, and sophomore Lissa Putnam, who will be competing in her first tournament for the Hoosiers. Putnam played at Purdue her freshman year before coming to IU. \n-- Contact staff writer David Paulen at dpaulen@indiana.edu.