Hoosiers 'ready to play golf'

As the IU men's golf team heads to its first fall event this weekend, the biggest question facing the squad will be whether the Hoosiers can pick up where they left off last season.\nSugar Grove, Ill., is the fall kickoff site for the Hoosiers, and their first event -- the NCAA Central Regional Preview -- will do exactly what the name indicates: preview. Just last year, IU proved that the fall's early events can't always forecast a team's play for the season when they overcame their mediocre start to earn an NCAA tournament bid in the spring. What this first tournament will show, however, is if the Hoosiers will again need to overcome a lackluster start to the season.\nLast September a youthful lineup led IU into the 2005 Central Regional Preview. With many players teeing off in their first collegiate event, the Hoosiers finished in the middle of the leaderboard in 11th place. It was not until mid-February of this year that the underclassman-dominated roster began to consistently compete for tournament championships as they tallied several top-five finishes, including two wins. Four of the players from last season's final lineup -- including sophomores Seth Brandon, Drew Allenspach and Jorge Campillo, alongside junior Santiago Quirarte -- will compete for the Hoosiers this weekend. Sophomore Brandon Pike, who played in four events as a freshman, will fill the final spot in the lineup, and senior Aaron Harrell will compete as an individual. \nWith most of the players now having at least one full season of experience, coach Mike Mayer has different expectations for his team.\n"Last year was a learning experience for us," he said. "We started very raw, very immature, very young and developed into a very good golf team. My goal this year is simply to start off where we ended up last year ... We can start winning tournaments right away. Our goal is to do that and put ourselves in position to make the NCAA tournament without having to put so much effort in it coming down the stretch."\nBrandon believes last season's success provided more than just experience -- it brought confidence to a young roster.\n"We proved that we can hang with anyone," Mayer said. "I have pretty high expectations for myself as well as this team, and I'm sure my teammates do, too ... Not one, but a couple of us should win tournaments individually, and we should definitely take some hardware home as a team. I feel like we have a chance to win every time we step out (on the golf course). If we're not going to win, then we may as well stay in Bloomington."\nTo go along with this new experience and confidence, Campillo said this team is loaded with talent.\n"We are good. We have five, six good players," he said. "We can win any golf tournament in the NCAA."\nWith many of the players participating in tournaments during the summer, Mayer is confident rust won't be an issue either.\n"We're ready to play golf," he said.