This weekend marks the beginning of a new era for IU men’s golf.
With a new assistant coach, a freshman phenom and much-needed senior and sophomore leadership, IU Coach Mike Mayer said he believes his team has the means to compete deep into postseason play.
Coming off a season in which they finished 10th out of 15 teams in the Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers kick off their eight-month campaign as the hosts of the Wolf Run Intercollegiate in Zionsville, Indiana.
Wolf Run brings with it a certain familiarity, as the Hoosiers have already played two practice sessions there this year. Despite this, Mayer said he believes the course may play as the most difficult of any in Indiana.
“It is very aesthetically demanding,” Mayer said. “Each hole gets your attention. It gives the appearance that it may be a little harder than it really is, but you’ve got to handle the aesthetics of the golf course to be able to handle the golf course.”
Senior Andrew Havill, junior Brendon Doyle, freshman Brock Ochsenreiter, senior Keegan Vea and sophomore Jake Brown round out this weekend’s five for the Hoosiers, with sophomore Jack Sparrow and juniors Christian Fairbanks and Matthew Weber competing as individuals.
After seven qualifying rounds this off-season, Brown, last season’s team scoring leader, finds himself taking the No. 5 spot this weekend. Ochsenreiter, the lone freshman on the roster, fills the No. 3 hole.
“Jake’s coming in as the five man, so a little different role for him,” Mayer said. “But that’s not relevant to where he’s at as a golfer. I think we have more depth than last year, and I’m just looking for him to develop. It’s tough in our sport, but you have to keep getting better.”
Much like Brown’s immediate effect as a freshman, when he competed in every tournament, Mayer said Ochsenreiter’s preseason qualifying sessions helped him earn his position as the No. 3 for Wolf Run. The shortest player on the team, listed at 5-foot-9, Ochsenreiter is also the biggest hitter on the team with his grip-it-and-rip-it mentality.
“Brock is a powerful young man,” Mayer said. “Of all the players on our team, he’s the one that plays with the least amount of fear, and he plays with the most positive energy. He’s as aggressive a player as I’ve ever coached.”
Assistant coach Corey Ziedonis, referred to by Mayer as the consummate Hoosier, will also be making his coaching debut in the cream and crimson after graduating from IU in 2013.
A four-year letter winner during his collegiate playing career, Ziedonis returns after assistant coaching stints at Ball State and Virginia.
This past season at Virginia, he helped lead the Cavaliers to an NCAA final and five Top-5 team finishes in different tournaments.
Ziedonis brings with him a level of experience and passion the team has lacked since his departure, Mayer said.
Meyer said he also sees the return of lost leadership in his seniors and especially in Brown.
“We redshirted him his freshman year because we thought he had the potential to become a really good player,” Mayer said. “Last year, he showed some of those leadership qualities we were looking for, and when you get one leader like that, you get other people jumping in there as well.”
Not only that, Mayer said the difference between this year’s team and teams of the previous two years is tangible.
“My expectation is very simple,” he said. “We’ve got more depth, we’re much more focused, we’re much more competitive internally. The desire is better. The work ethic is better. We need to continue developing leaders. I think we can be in contention for postseason play this year.”
