4th-place finish gives Hoosiers hope

Three years ago, the NCAA adopted a rule that no team would be eligible for the Men’s Golf Championships if its record was not better than .500 for the season.

With a 50-48 record and only two tournaments remaining on the schedule, the IU men’s golf team needed a good finish this week at the Crooked Stick Invitational.

A fourth-place finish out of 12 teams accomplished that and moved the Hoosiers one step closer to securing an NCAA Tournament bid.

“We wanted to get wins here, and I think at the end of the week we did,” IU coach Mike Mayer said.

The Crooked Stick Invitational was played on arguably the most storied course in the state of Indiana and was the second-straight tournament in which IU was the host.

The Hoosiers struggled out of the gate Monday morning with an opening-round 304 before finishing the tournament with a 290 in round two and a 291 in Tuesday’s final round.

“We opened up the first round so bad, and I think at one point we were in 11th place,” Mayer said. “We kept fighting back, and our last two rounds were two solid rounds of golf.”

Senior Alex Martin and sophomore David Erdy led the Hoosiers all week near the top of the leaderboard.

Martin’s three-round total of 215 was good enough for fifth place individually, with Erdy four shots behind in ninth place.

After opening with a 79 in round one, sophomore Chase Wright closed with rounds of 72 and 73 for a 20th-place finish.

Freshman Brant Peaper had his score count in all three rounds for the Hoosiers and finished in 26th place individually.

Freshman Corey Ziedonis played as an individual, and his 232 total placed him 33rd individually.

The Hoosiers will have little rest from tournament competition as the team heads to West Lafayette for the Boilermaker Invitational beginning Saturday.
Mayer said he likes where his team is heading into its final two tournaments and is looking forward to seeing the progress.

“We have to get off to a better start, but I think we are well on our way,” Mayer said. “We don’t want to peak yet, but I think we are getting better and better.”