Hoosiers look forward to only home tournament

The IU women's golf team will get to stay at home this weekend as it plays in its only home tournament of the year. The 2004 Indiana Invitational will be held Saturday and Sunday at the IU Golf Course. The women will be playing the Championship Course, and first round play begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. Teams will play 36 holes Saturday and their final 18 Sunday. \nThe Hoosiers will play host to 14 other teams, including four teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin Top 50. No. 14 Michigan State leads the field, while the Hoosiers are currently ranked No. 39.\nThe tournament format allows for each team to have six women participate, with the four lowest scores for each round counting toward the team total. The six Hoosiers who will participate are seniors Ambry Bishop, Karen Dennison, Danah Ford and Mary Lidester, junior Bethany Brunner and sophomore Molly Redfearn.\nThe Hoosiers have won the event nine teams in its 26-year history, including a stretch of three straight titles from 1998 to 2000. Eight Hoosier women have taken home the individual title at the event. \nIU will look to continue its strong play in search of two consecutive victories. The Hoosiers won Baylor-Tapatio Springs Shootout March 21 in Boerne, Texas. Dennison finished in second place, Ford finished in third and Redfearn finished sixth, as the Hoosiers cruised to a 13-shot victory against a strong field.\nThe Indiana Invitational will also give those golfers who are not participating with their teams an opportunity to compete as individuals. Junior Alyse Tankanow and sophomores Katie Carlson and Lissa Putnam will compete for the Hoosiers as individual participants. They will compete for the individual medalist honors, but their scores will not contribute to the team score.\nLast year at the Invitational, the Hoosiers finished fourth out of 11 teams with a three-round total of 937 (317, 303, 317). Dennison was the highest finisher for the Hoosiers in ninth place with a 231 (78, 75, 78).\nThe Hoosiers will have only one more tournament after the Indiana Invitational to get ready for the Big Ten Championships. The Lady Boilermaker Invitational will be held April 17 and 18 in West Lafayette, Ind., and the Big Ten Championships will be played April 23 through 25 at the Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio.