IU women’s golf looks to move up at Big Ten Championships

The IU women’s golf team will head to the Donald Ross Course in French Lick, Ind. for the Big Ten Championships beginning Friday. The course is expected to play as a par-72, and at a length of 6,121 yards  for the tournament.

The Hoosiers finished 12th in the tournament last year. They will be paired with Ohio State and Penn State and are scheduled to tee off from hole No. 1 at 10 a.m. IU is the 6-seed in the tournament and is ranked No. 56 overall by Golfweek. The top seed in the tournament belongs to the Purdue Boilermakers, who are ranked No. 11 overall by Golfweek.

IU Coach Clint Wallman said his team is ready for the weekend and that the experience of his squad will serve them well.

“I really think that this year’s championship will be a well-contested one and we are excited about going down to French Lick,” Wallman said. “There are a number of Big Ten teams that are in the mix, and we have arguably one of the most experienced teams that we have ever put out there ready to go.”

Senior Rosie Davies will play in the No. 1 spot for the Hoosiers. Davies finishing tied for 11th last weekend at the Lady Buckeye Invitational, the tops among all Hoosiers. She has four top-10 finishes this season, and in 2011 she posted her best conference tournament finish finishing 32nd.

Going out in the No. 2 slot for IU will be senior Kate Coons. She is coming off a 26th place finish in last week’s Buckeye Invitational. Coons’ best finish in the Big Ten Tournament also came in 2011, where she finished 27th.

Third for the Hoosiers will be sophomore Elizabeth Tong, who has claimed three individual victories this season at the IU Fall Kickoff, Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown and Indiana Invitational. She also is the Hoosiers leader in season stroke average, sitting at a 75.28.

Freshman Marissa DeCola will play in the No. 4 spot. She has had a solid freshman campaign, with three top-25 finishes in her first year of collegiate golf. Wallman called her performance last week in the Buckeye Invitational “one of her bets performances of the season.”

Graduate student Kristen Schelling, who transferred from UNLV to IU earlier in her career, will also be playing the No. 5 spot and be competing in her first Big Ten championship tournament. She is second on the team in stroke average at 75.62 and has also posted five top-10 finishes this season. 

Rounding out the Hoosier lineup will be senior Pamela Burneski, who has been plauged with injuries this season. Burneski’s best finish at the Big Ten Championships came in 2011 when she finished 31st. She has not finished lower than 40th at the event.

Michigan State is the defending Big Ten champions, and they enter the tournament this season with the No. 2 overall seed in the Big Ten and the No. 27 national ranking by Golfweek.