IU swings into fall season

After another full summer of preparation, the IU men's golf team will begin its fall 2004 season Saturday at the Michigan-Radrick Farms Intercollegiate in Ann Arbor, Mich. Due to an experienced returning lineup and several strong summer performances, the Hoosiers are feeling confident entering the season.\n"We've got everybody back that played last year except for (alumnus Ryan Cassidy). I think we're fairly confident with the lineup we have, and I don't think we're too worried," senior Heath Peters said.\nIU features an experienced lineup going into the tournament. At the top is senior Jeff Overton, who is ranked No. 4 in Golf World magazine's ranking of the Top 50 Male Golfers to Watch. Peters, junior Brad Marek, senior Mike Birkenfeld and junior Oren Hodak round out the rest of the Hoosier lineup. All, except Hodak, played at least 18 rounds for last year's team. \nBut Hodak will not be the only Hoosier gaining valuable experience at this weekend's tournament. Freshman Santiago Quirarte said he's looking forward to making his debut when he competes as an individual this weekend.\n"Of course it's very important to play and to give my best every tournament," Quirarte said. "This is the first one of my college career, so I'm just gonna try and do my best."\nLast fall the Hoosiers won three of their four tournaments but were unable to repeat that success in the spring. So the team does not believe a fast start is necessary.\n"I think the importance gets more and more as we go through the fall season and especially the spring season," IU coach Mike Mayer said. "I'm not saying that we don't want to play well or expect to play well or we don't want to win. We do want to do all that stuff. But I think this year especially we're going to try to peak at the right time, and obviously we don't want to peak right now."\nBut a win would still be welcome.\n"But I'd love to go win this tournament and not play very well," Mayer said with a laugh. "That's what I would like to do."\nThe Michigan-Radrick Farms Intercollegiate, hosted by the University of Michigan, begins with two rounds of play at 9 a.m. Saturday. The final round will be played at 9 a.m. Sunday.\n-- Contact staff writer Charlie Gillingham at cgilling@indiana.edu.