McGuire Invitational ends in 8th-place finish at New Mexico tournament

In its second tournament of the season, the IU women’s golf team finished in eighth place at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., this weekend.

The tournament marked a return to New Mexico for IU coach Clint Wallman, who previously served as head coach there and led the Lobos to back-to-back NCAA tourney appearances in 2003-04.

Despite the eighth-place finish, the Hoosiers take some positives away from the tournament. The field included six teams ranked in the top 30.

The Hoosiers got off to a solid start on Saturday’s opening day of 36 holes. A two-round total of nine-over 593 put the Hoosiers in seventh place heading into Sunday’s final round. A final round team score of 301 was the highest of the week for the Hoosiers.

“It was a very tiring week with the altitude – and having to play 36, then 18 holes is very challenging,” Wallman said. “We are a little disappointed with how we finished, but that is golf. Some days you have it, and some days you don’t.”

Senior Laura Nochta notched her second straight top-10 finish to start the season with a three-round total of three below at 216, which put her in a tie for seventh individually. Nochta’s second-round score of 69 was the first time she shot under 70 in a college tournament.

“Two top-10 finishes is a pretty big deal – especially with how good of a field this was,” Nochta said. “The goal for me is to be in the top 10 in every tournament this fall.”

The Hoosiers were also led by senior Anita Gahir, whose final round score of 71 moved her up to 24th individually.

Rounding out the scoring for the Hoosiers were freshmanPamela Burneski with a tie for 45th, senior Kellye Belcher in 62nd place and junior Cecilia Orevik, who was one shot higher than Belcher in 70th place.

The Hoosiers will hit the links again this weekend at the Lady Northern Invitational in Madison, Wis.