Hoosiers defend title for second year at Firestone

Even with a different lineup from 2010, the IU men’s golf team prevailed to defend their title at the Firestone Invitational.

The Hoosiers carded three solid rounds to tie St. Mary’s at 854, five strokes ahead of third-placed Iowa State.

Senior co-captain David Erdy, who tied for medalist honors at the North Course in 2010, did not play this year due to medical reasons.

IU Coach Mike Mayer said he was very pleased with the team, especially on the road without one of its strongest players.

“I saw a lot of positive things this week. We were strong every round which was what we needed to do,” Mayer said. “It always comes down to a stroke or two and this week was no exception. We stayed with it and never gave up.”

The Hoosiers were well represented on the invite leaderboard, with senior co-captain Chase Wright finishing runner-up and sophomore David Mills tying for third.

Wright said he felt comfortable from previous experience and carded five strokes less than last year at the event, when he placed sixth.

“I just stayed patient all week and hit lots of greens to give myself chances and get myself in contention,” Wright said.

Wright capped off his second round with birdies on three of the last four holes, which he said helped him hang in there for the final 18 holes.

In the final round, the senior had an eagle and two birdies to offset his only bogey en route to a three-under-par 69.

Mills had the low final round for the Hoosiers with a five-under-par 67, but he said he hopes to improve on his iron play and putting in the coming weeks.

“Our mindset was to come out here and win, and we did just that,” Mills said. “We all did a lot of things right and I had a personal improvement from last year.”