The IU women’s golf team took two practice trips to Arizona to warm up for the spring season, but the Hoosiers still seemed rusty in their first tournament since October.
IU finished in 13th place at the Westbrook Spring Invitational in Peoria, Arizona, with a team score of 898 (plus 34) in three rounds. The Hoosiers finished 37 strokes behind tournament champion Kansas State (minus 3).
IU Coach Clint Wallman said the last-place finish was not what he expected of the team coming out of winter break and the training trips.
“It definitely gives us a barometer of where we are at, and we need to assess stuff and move forward for our next event,” Wallman said.
Senior Ana Sanjuan led the way for the Hoosiers with an individual score of 214 (minus 2) and finished tied for sixth in the individual standings. Sanjuan recorded her third top-10 finish this year, and her sixth-place performance was her highest individual finish of the season.
Sanjuan said she worked hard in practice before the tournament and that her hard work paid off. ww
“Today I didn’t play my best, but I played the round, and I shot even par without playing my best golf,” Sanjuan said. “That means I am a good player and I can win tournaments so it makes me confident.”
Sanjuan’s teammates were unable to match her individual success throughout the weekend, as IU was the only team in the tournament that didn’t have two players finish in the top 40 individually. Wallman said the Hoosiers were hurt by the absence of junior Alix Kong, the team’s second best player in the fall, who sat out due to health issues.
IU played a strong afternoon round Sunday, shooting a team score of 296 (plus 8). Sanjuan shot her lowest score with a 3-under-par 69 and freshman Elisa Pierre shot an even 72 to help the Hoosiers to their best round of the tournament.
Wallman said the Hoosiers suffered from spotty execution throughout the tournament. In the fall, the Hoosiers’ main struggle was their short game, but Wallman said issues for the team came up in all areas this weekend.
In preparation for the next tournament, Wallman said he will have the players get to work right away.
“I think you’re going to see a lot better play from the girls head-to-toe in a couple weeks,” Wallman said. “And I think there were a lot of positives that were taken away, it just didn’t correlate into the result we wanted.”
