IU golf rallies to finish 8th at Invitational

The IU men’s golf team passed three teams during the final day of the Irish Creek Collegiate in Kannapolis, N.C., to finish eighth of 16 teams.

The team returned to Indiana with mixed emotions about their performance.

IU Coach Mike Mayer was pleased with his team’s continued improvement, but slip-ups throughout the tournament prohibited the team from placing better.

“First of all, I think we got better and better every round and I’m really pleased that we’re continuing to develop,” Mayer said. “That being said, we made some mistakes we can’t afford to keep making.”

Sophomore Max Kollin said putting was where the team made a lot of mistakes.
“As a team we had a lot of three-putts,” Kollin said. “That was the real issue for us out there. I think if we putted well as a team, there’s no reason we couldn’t have won the tournament.”

Freshman Will Seger, along with Kollin, paced the Hoosiers. Each finished with total scores of 220 (+7) to tie them for 25th.

Seger’s first day rounds of 70 and 74 tied him for 16th individually, but a final day 76 dropped him into a tie for 25th. Kollin’s three rounds were more consistent, as he completed the tournament with a line of 73-73-74.

“Max continues to get better and better,” Mayer said. “We challenged him to play within himself and he did a really good job of that.”

Senior David Mills struggled in his opening round and was sitting in a tie for 72nd-place shooting a 78. But Mills bounced back to shoot second and third round scores of 72 and 71.. He finished in 29th place with a score of 221 (+8).

“I just had a bunch of bad breaks in the first round,” Mills said. “But in the second round, I started to turn things around. It’s always good to finish on a good note, and I feel like we did that.”

Mayer said he was impressed with Mills’ ability to bounce back.

“It hasn’t been David’s best spring, but we’re working with him,” Mayer said. “He struggled at the open of the tournament, but he was able to right the ship, and that’s what a senior does. He showed he can win the Big Ten Championship, there’s no question of that.”

Senior Andrew Fogg and junior Nicholas Grubnich also scored for the Hoosiers. Grubnich tied for 41st with rounds of 73-77-74 for a final score of 224 (+11).

Fogg finished in a tie for 65th, but showed flashes of great golf. His second round 72 was tied for the third-best round of the tournament for IU. He finished at 228 (+15) with rounds of 81-72-75.

IU was one of the more consistent teams in the tournament, but lacked one dominant golfer to step up and carry the team. The Hoosiers were the only top-10 finisher without an individual golfer in the top 12.

The team will get a chance to change that next weekend on their home course. IU will play host to the Hoosier Invitational April 12-13.

Mayer said he thinks the team is continuing to develop and will look to build off some momentum after passing teams on the last day of this tournament.

“We beat some nice teams today,” Mayer said. “I think we still have a chance to go into the Big Ten Tournament and surprise some teams, and maybe even ourselves.”