IU men’s golf has just four more outings before the Big Ten Tournament, and the Hoosiers can only go up from where they are now after a disappointing showing this weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Hoosiers finished last of the 12 teams in this weekend’s Desert Mountain Intercollegiate field. With a combined team stroke total of 912, good for 48 over par, IU finished 12 strokes behind Marquette, which finished second-to-last.
IU’s fourth position golfer, sophomore Jake Brown, had the top individual finish for the team. He finished in a tie for 45th place out of 66 golfers at 10 strokes over par.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to get on track in the final round, and although we did make some birdies, there were too many big numbers to overcome,” IU coach Mike Mayer said.
Mayer’s No. five player, junior Christian Fairbanks, continued to show glimpses of promise after winning his qualifying match last weekend. Fairbanks finished the tournament tied for 53rd at 13-over. The top three IU players all finished behind Brown and Fairbanks.
Three Big Ten players, representing host team Michigan, Purdue and Northwestern, finished in the top five. Michigan came out on top in team score, and Northwestern took second. Both teams rank in the top 50 nationally. In-state rival Purdue finished tied for fourth with Kansas. The two teams also ranked highest in RPI in the Desert Mountain field with Kansas at No. 34 and Purdue at No. 40.
The Hoosiers continue to compete in some of the most challenging fields in college golf in an attempt to prepare for the Big Ten Tournament. This provides the opportunity to physically and mentally prepare to play the best teams in the country, some of which reside in the Big Ten, Mayer said.
“Our expectations coming into this tournament were to play better than we did,” Mayer said. “So we have to go back and evaluate the things that led to the poor scores and do all that we can to improve upon those between now and the next tournament.”
