In its continued hunt of an NCAA Tournament appearance, IU finished the Lady Buckeye Invitational tied for second place at 14-over par for the tournament.
The Hoosiers turned in team scores of 300 and 286 in Saturday’s first and second rounds and closed with a 297 in Sunday’s final round at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University.
The weather conditions were ideal in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend, but IU Coach Clint Wallman said they battled tough course conditions, though obviously playing well.
“Today wasn’t our best round, but they hung in there and they were mentally tough,” Wallman said. “The golf course was awfully tough and hole locations were hard.”
Nonetheless, Camille Chevalier finished as the top golfer overall this weekend. She started off with a first round 75 (+3), but came back with a 70 (-2) in the second round and completed her tournament with a final round 68 (-4) Sunday to beat Sarah Burnham of Michigan State and Josee Doyon from Kent State by one stroke for the individual title.
“I really liked the ball striking because my game was not at its best,” Chevalier said. “I managed to play really well with what I had and I’m really happy with this. I also saved pars and made a lot of important putts.”
Wallman echoed many of these same things when asked about the play of Chevalier.
“She played very discipline and has a good understanding of managing herself,” Wallman said. “She didn’t have her A1 ball striking, but she made some clutch putts and kept herself in the game and was able to squeak out a very good round.”
Chevalier had not finished above fourth place overall on the season before this weekend.
“Overall, I think I was focused and played with urgency, which is what our coaches told us to do,” Chevalier said. “I was really strong in my head.”
As for the team as a whole, it is their second straight tournament that they have finished in second place. They kept themselves in contention and all supported each other, Chevalier said.
“I really liked the fact that we all supported each other as a team,” Chevalier said. “I think it’s the way it should be for us to be successful and everyone was really supportive of each other.”
Being in the hunt is a good thing, Wallman said, but he did say they could have done a better job staying discipline and that it is all a learning experience for next week at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis.
“We’ve really worked on playing with urgency, however not playing reckless, and focusing on the shot at hand,” Wallman said. “I think they really believe that they are as good as anyone out there and as long as they keep doing what they are doing; hitting one shot at a time, trying to play the best shot they can, and playing with that urgency.”
With the NCAA Tournament well within their grasp, they have had some good wins, Wallman said, but won’t have to do anything special when they play next weekend at the Big Tens.
“They are going to be a really fun team to follow this weekend coming up,” Wallman said.
