Following a third consecutive season placing tied for 12th or worse of 14 teams in the Big Ten Championships, Indiana women’s golf is still searching for the answer to escape the bottom of the conference. Debuting a team consisting of 75% newcomers, the 2023-24 Hoosiers are hoping new blood is the recipe.
Of the returners, senior Dominika Burdová is projected to be the most impactful based off last year’s stats. Burdová finished last season second in scoring average for Indiana, notching a 74.93, and earned three top-10 finishes while playing in all 30 rounds for the Hoosiers.
Junior Beatriz Junqueira is the other returner for second-year head coach Brian May’s squad. Junqueira played in 21 rounds and posted a 78.29 scoring average. This season will be her third at Indiana.
Headlining the newcomers is fifth-year senior Caroline Craig, a transfer from the University of Georgia. Craig averaged 74.63 in 76 rounds of play throughout her four years as a Bulldog and fired a career-low round of 5-under 66 in the final round of the Cougar Classic last season. Craig will look to challenge Burdova as the Hoosiers’ top scorer for the season.
The Hoosiers also added sophomores — and sisters — Chloe and Faith Johnson to the program after one year at Furman University. Chloe was awarded All-Southern Conference Team and Freshman Team following a season including a 75.0 scoring average, two top-5 finishes and nine rounds even par or under across all 35 rounds for the Paladins. Faith, also honored to the All-Southern Conference Freshman Team, posted a 76.8 scoring average and three top-20 finishes in 32 rounds of play.
Redshirt junior Caroline Smith and redshirt sophomore Maddie May round out the transfer additions for Indiana. Smith joins the Hoosiers after three years at Wake Forest University, where she redshirted her freshman season before playing one round in her following two seasons.
In Smith’s sophomore season in 2021-22 she scored a 228, 12-over par three-round score at the Bryan National Collegiate and shot a 239, 23-over par in the Nexus Collegiate last season.
May averaged a score of 78.57 across seven rounds in her 2021-22 freshman campaign before being redshirted last season.
Indiana’s lone high school recruit joining the team is freshman Nicole Kolbas. Kolbas boasts a decorated amateur career, including honors such as the Nebraska Junior Girls’ Amateur Champion, winning the USGA Junior Girls Qualifier, medalist honors at the PGA Junior Girls Qualifier and district and state championships.
The newcomers will aim to replicate the success of then-graduate transfer Alexis Florio, last season’s scoring leader. While the Hoosiers finished near the bottom --- tied for 12th ---at the Big Ten Championships, it was still an improvement from the previous seasons, a slight trend in the right direction.
Indiana is scheduled to compete in 10 regular season tournaments before the annual Big Ten Championships. For the second consecutive season, the Hoosiers are not scheduled to host a tournament.
