No. 43 IU hosts only home invitational

Now it is their turn. \nAfter watching other teams host tournaments and participating as guests at different invitationals this year, the Hoosiers finally get to host a tournament of their own. The IU Invitational, which will be held at the Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., will begin today and run through Tuesday. \nThe No. 43 IU women’s golf team used this privilege to invite and compete against a diverse field of 14 teams, including four ranked teams – No. 6 rival Purdue, No. 27 Texas, No. 42 Oregon and No. 44 Ohio State.\nNot only will the Hoosiers host the tournament, but they will do so at the prestigious Crooked Stick Golf Club. The course has played host to many national events, including the 1991 PGA Championship, the 1993 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2005 Solheim Cup, and it will host the 2009 U.S. \nSenior Open. \nIU sophomore Kellye Belcher said having the tournament at Crooked Stick is good and bad at the same time. \n“I really like it, and it’s an honor to play there, and it’s a beautiful course,” Belcher said. “The only thing is we don’t have an advantage playing there since we haven’t played at Crooked Stick since our last tournament there (last year).”\nAt last year’s IU Invitational, Belcher was in second place at the end of the first day although she was also battling mononucleosis at the time. Despite feeling less than 100 percent at the end of the tournament, she still led IU with a 22nd-place finish. \nIU’s hottest player right now is senior Lauren Harling, who led the Hoosiers to their first team win since Sept. 11, 2006, when she won the individual title at last week’s Mountain View Collegiate.\nHarling, who was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this year, said last week’s tournament should be a momentum builder. \n“I feel good (about last week) and we look forward to carrying our good play into this tournament,” Harling said.\nIU coach Clint Wallman agreed with Harling’s assessment but said the team still needs to improve.\n“The key is not to do anything different from last week and pay attention to detail,” Wallman said. “We still need to work on wedges and putting and play with an urgent state of mind.”\nAt last year’s IU Invitational, the Hoosiers placed ninth as a team. \nHarling said last year’s disappointment in the tournament is behind them and the team is better prepared this time around.\n“We are focused on the present, and we’ve matured since last year,” she said.\nJoining Belcher and Harling in the tournament will be sophomores Anita Gahir and Laura Nochta and senior Elaine Harris.\nBelcher said the team cannot be overconfident after last week and still needs to work on its short game.\n“We all put good rounds together at the same time last week, but we are still working on some things, including our putting and chipping,” she said.