Hoosiers slip up on final day of tournament

Heading into the final weekend of preparation before the Big Ten Championship, coach Mike Mayer was looking for the men's golf team to finally pull all the pieces together to contend for a Big Ten Championship and a coveted NCAA berth.\n"We've come close all year," Mayer said. "Each weekend we want to come another step closer to our goal."\nThe Hoosiers looked like they had finally put all the pieces together for a run for the championship for the first two rounds of the Fossum/TaylorMade Invitational. Led by senior and reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Jeff Overton, the Hoosiers finished day one in a tie for third place with Big Ten rival Minnesota by shooting a two round score of 583. The Hoosiers only trailed host Michigan State and Xavier University, who was the overnight leader with a team score of 570.\nAfter the good opening day showing, the Hoosiers showed they still have some work to do before the Big Ten Championships next weekend. Overton was the individual leader by four shots heading into the final round, which was delayed because of frost on the course. The Hoosiers came out in the third round as cold as the weather conditions as they fired a 298, which dropped them in a finish for sixth place.\n"We got really good play from our seniors on the first day, but they didn't get any support," Mayer said. "Today just wasn't our day."\nOne bright spot for the Hoosiers was the tie for first place for Overton; however, even that was somewhat of a disappointment. The All-American gave back three shots to the field as he carded a three-over 75 in the final round. Ben Greve of Minnesota shot a six-under 66 to tie Overton for medalist honors.\n"In the first couple of rounds I hit some great iron shots which led to some good scores," Overton said. "As a team, we need to learn to let go and play. If we played our best in the final round we could have gone and won like Minnesota did."\nOverton finally earned his first victory of the spring season after narrowly missing out on winning medalist honors the previous two tournaments. It is the fourth top-five finish in five spring events for the Evansville native who has been named a finalist for the Hogan Award, which is presented annually to the top collegiate golfer.\nAfter being named to the second team All-Big Ten last season, senior Heath Peters has struggled this spring season. Peters turned in his best showing for the Hoosiers this spring with an 11th place finish. The play of Peters, who owns the third lowest scoring average in Indiana history, will be an important factor in this week's Big Ten Tournament, Mayer said.\nFreshman Santiago Quirarte continued his solid play as he finished in a tie for 27th by firing a three round score of 223. Rounding out the scoring for the Hoosiers were junior Scott Seibert who finished tied for 49th place and sophomore Aaron Harrell who tied for 67th place.\nThe Hoosiers look to put all the pieces together as they head up to Wisconsin to compete in the Big Ten Championships this weekend. Their finish could determine the NCAA fate of the Hoosiers as they seek back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Chris Engel at ccengel@indiana.edu.