IU travels to Big Tens to seek 8th tourney title

The IU women's golf team will head to Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend, on three days rest from the Lady Buckeye Invitational, to compete in the Big Ten Championships on the University of Michigan Golf Course in hopes of capturing the program's eighth Big Ten title. \nUsing last week's tournament as preparation will be key for the Hoosiers as the course in Ann Arbor will play very similarly to the one in Columbus a week ago.\n"(The Lady Buckeye) was good preparation for this coming week," said senior Bethany Brunner. "The short-game will be very important; we'll have to get up and down better."\nIU coach Clint Wallman said the course for the Lady Buckeye is like what the Hoosiers will see in the conference championship and the extra tournament will be great preparation. \nThe Hoosiers will field a squad of six golfers for the tournament, with the four lowest scores per round counting toward the team score. Teeing it up will be senior Brunner, juniors Molly Redfearn and Katie Carlson, and freshmen Elaine Harris, Gennifer Marrs and Stephanie Mayotte. \nA big key for the Hoosiers may be the play of Harris, who has led the team in average strokes per round.\n"Elaine has been the biggest surprise of the year," Wallman said. "She is just going to get better and better." \nThough half of the squad is made up of golfers competing in their first Big Ten Tournament, the team feels positive because the older players have been there and can help the younger players mentally, Carlson said.\n"The older players will help in keeping positive and being focused," she said. "We will be mentally helpful -- physically the team is prepared for the Big Ten." \nThe field for this weekend's tournament includes five teams ranked in the top 50 nationally, headlined by No. 10 Ohio State and tournament host No. 26, Michigan. No. 32 Purdue, No. 42 Northwestern and No. 46 Michigan State make up the last of the ranked teams in the tournament. \nAt last year's Big Ten Tournament, IU finished second after struggling on the final day of the tournament with a 312 to card a tournament score of 1,216. However, senior Danah Ford took home the individual title while setting a Big Ten Tournament scoring record of 287, one stroke better than the mark set by Michigan State's Emily Bastel in 2000. \nPlay begins on the Michigan Golf Course, par 72, at 8 a.m. today with two rounds of play, and continues Saturday and Sunday with one round each day. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Jake Brown at jab1@indiana.edu.