IU shot 33 bogeys in the first round, the most of the 13 other schools behind Bradley University, which left them in 14th place heading into the second round later in the day Monday.
In the second round, the Hoosiers improved somewhat, as they maintained the same number of bogeys but shot three more birdies than in the first round, leaving them at 47 over par going into the last round and second day of the tournament.
“We got off to a rough start,” IU Coach Clint Wallman said. “Golf is such a mental game, so the more you push, the harder it gets. You have to try not to do too much, and they all did a much better job of that the second day.”
The third round was the Hoosiers’ best round of the tournament, as they finished 14 strokes better than the first round and nine strokes better than the second.
In the first nine holes of the third round, IU totaled just 10 bogeys and two double bogeys, but in the back nine the Hoosiers shot six triple bogies and six birdies, killing their rally and pinning them in the 13th spot overall for the tournament behind five top-40 schools.
“The competition was good,” Wallman said. “We were looking forward to playing them, but we were very competitive and got off to a bad start. I think we definitely could have competed if we didn’t have to play catch-up the whole time, trying to get back into position.”
Senior Camille Chevalier finished the tournament with the best IU scorecard, including a final round of 70 strokes, her career low at IU and two under par for the day, of the Cardinal Cup.
Of the six IU golfers, Chevalier shot the worst nine-hole performance on the team in the back-nine of the first round.
She shot a 45 — nine over par — giving her the second-worst first round for IU, with nine over par.
She responded with a two-round total of two over par.
“Camille put in a professional-level performance,” Wallman said. “If other golfers put in the first performance that she did, the rest of the tournament would be toast, but finished the second round bringing some positive momentum into today in the final round.”
Chevalier said she
began the tournament with a slow performance because she could not gauge the greens accurately until the second round.
“The greens were very slopey,” Chevalier said. “I had to really put the ball in the right spot on the green or else I would have a long shot to the hole. I had to be patient and take my time.”
Wallman said the course was a difficult one that offered three challenges, including the greens.
He said the rough was deep outside the fairway, so hitting the ball outside of the fairway was nearly a stroke sacrifice, as the golfers needed to get the ball back onto the fairway to get a good shot at the greens.
Wallman also said every time the golfers took the course, the wind conditions were different, forcing the golfers to make different strategies day-to-day.
But the greens were what Wallman stressed as the biggest challenge for the golfers.
“I saw some girls who were around ten feet away that putted the ball, and if they didn’t get it in the hole, it rolled off the green,” Wallman said. “The course looks forgiving at first, but it plays deep and mistakes can be pretty costly.”
After defeating Michigan and losing to Colorado before the Cardinal Cup, the Hoosiers will travel to Las Vegas on Sunday to take part in the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in a three-day tournament, its fourth of the season
“Golf is a game that, even in statistics, is such a negatively reinforcing game,” Wallman said. “The girls are all good at staying positive, so I tell them to look for that positive action and eventually we will find positive progress.”
