Team seeks more production from bottom of lineup

The season is entering the home stretch, and the IU men's golf team is searching for a way to stand out in a crowded district. Despite placing two golfers in the top 10, IU could only muster a tie for sixth place at last weekend's Kepler Intercollegiate. The Hoosiers realize they will need to put together a stronger performance at this weekend's Firestone Intercollegiate to maintain a strong case for an NCAA Tournament bid.\n"We're looking for a solid finish this tournament," junior Heath Peters said. "I think last tournament we had a chance to pretty much set ourselves up for regionals, and we kind of let it slip there in the last couple rounds. I feel that if we go out there and get a solid finish, beat a lot of people in our district, we'll be back in the driver's seat again."\nLast weekend, the Hoosiers were led by Peters, who finished tied for seventh, and fellow junior Jeff Overton, whose tie for fourth earned him his second consecutive Big Ten Golfer of the Week award. \nBut sophomores Brad Marek and Scott Siebert and senior Ryan Cassidy all finished out of the top 50, which prevented the Hoosiers from making a charge for the top of the leaderboard. IU head coach Mike Mayer believes production out of the three, four and five golfers will be key the rest of the season.\n"We got incredible production out of the one and two with Jeff's fourth-place finish and Heath's seventh place finish. But we really didn't get much out of three, four or five," Mayer said. "We're going to need that down the stretch here. This is such a tight race for the NCAA bids where a matter of strokes can very well make a difference."\nCassidy agrees the team will need greater production and the only way to get it is continued practice.\n"I think we all kind of have our problems right now. I'm kind of struggling with my putting, other guys are struggling with their ball striking," Cassidy said. "So it's just a matter of coming back here and practicing what we need to do and just get done what we need to in order to get ready for the rest of the tournaments."\nThe Firestone Intercollegiate is set to begin tomorrow with 36 holes of play and conclude with the final 18 holes Sunday. The tournament will be hosted by the University of Akron and played at Firestone Country Club, home of the PGA Tour's NEC Invitational.\n-- Contact staff writer Charlie Gillingham at cgilling@indiana.edu.