Hoosiers finish last at Isleworth

The IU men’s golf team struggled at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational on the par-72, 7,544-yard Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Windermere, Fla., failing to get out of the cellar, finishing in last out of 15 teams.

With rounds of 306-310-311, IU was the only team in the field to post more than 300 in all three rounds, and its final two scores were the highest in the event.

The team score of 927 is its highest for a three-round event since the PING/Golfweek Invitational Sept. 27-28, 2009, and just the fourth over-900 score since the beginning of the 2009 fall golf season.

Junior David Mills entered the season as the team’s No. 1, but after poor early season performances he dropped to No. 5 for this event. His performance at Isleworth was enough to lead the Hoosiers, albeit with a 14-over-par 230.

The team’s current No. 1, senior Brant Peaper, got off to a lackluster start, carding a 13-over-par 85, but did improve in each of the next two rounds with a 77 on Monday and 75 in Tuesday’s final round.

During last season’s Isleworth event, Mills shot 221 and tied for 16th, while Peaper tied for 32nd and finished with a 226. The team left with a fourth-place finish with scores of 295-301-291 (888).

This year, senior Corey Ziedonis posted his lowest score of 77 during the first round, followed by his highest stroke count of 80 occurring on day two of the three-day event. His final round 78 gave him the team’s second-lowest score (+19), 14 spots below Mills on the leaderboard.

Senior Michael McGee equaled Peaper’s 21-over-par after shooting 80-77-80. This was his first tournament action since being sidelined with an illness after the Wolf Run event in September.

A third-round 15-over-par (87) doomed junior Hugo Menendez after posting a team-low 2-over-par in the opening round on Sunday. Sandwiched between was a 79 to give him a team-high score of 240 (+24) that slotted him in 72nd place.

Of the final 10 spots on the individual leaderboard, Hoosiers occupied four of them.

High scores were in part due to 97 of the 270 holes played being over-par with three triple bogeys and two quadruple bogeys. The Hoosiers were able to record only 24 birdies.