After tying its lowest finish of the season with fourth place at the Clover Cup from March 10-12, Indiana women’s golf turned to the Florida State Match Up on March 21-23 at Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida, to continue its improved play.
While the Hoosiers’ score of 23 over par was higher in relation to par than at the Clover Cup, Indiana managed to secure a lower finish and placed third in the 13-team field. Indiana sat behind just No. 7 Florida State University and Illinois, which finished the tournament at 22 under par and 20 over par, respectively.
Indiana opened the tournament with a 17-over-par 305 as each Hoosier shot over par for their 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament. However, the Hoosiers found themselves in third place after the first round.
After the first round, the Hoosiers shot a 5-over-par 293, which set them back into fourth place. But a final round score of 1 over par put Indiana back into third place for the tournament with a collective score of 887, just three strokes behind second place Illinois.
Over the three days, redshirt senior Caroline Smith was the only Hoosier to shoot under par for the tournament. After shooting a 3-over-par 75 in the first round, Smith followed up the performance with a 1-under-par 71 during the second round and a 3-under-par 69 during the third round.
Smith’s performance of 4 under par put her in fourth place behind three players from Florida State — her best finish in her two seasons as a Hoosier. She was 15 strokes behind junior Mirabel Ting, who won the tournament by 10 strokes. With her win, Ting — who is ranked No. 1 in the Division I Scoreboard rankings powered by Clipped — picked up her fifth individual victory of the season.
Freshman Cara Heisterkamp set four new career lows over the tournament: single round score, relation to par score, 54-hole score and tournament finish.
With Smith, Heisterkamp was the only other Hoosier to place in the top 10 over the weekend. The Westlake, Ohio, native started the tournament with a score of 7 over par but bounced back in the second and third rounds with a 1-under-par 71 and a 2-under-par 70. Her final round score of 70 was highlighted by a bogey-free front nine where she recorded five birdies and marked the lowest score of her career.
Heisterkamp finished with a total score of 227, which put her in a tie for seventh place with Illinois junior Victoria Zheng and Florida State freshman Sophia Fullbrook at 4 under par.
Junior Madison Dabagia and redshirt junior Maddie May rounded out the Hoosiers’ lineup for the tournament. Dabagia finished in a tie for 19th place with a 9-over-par 225, while May finished in a tie for 26th place with an 11-over-par 227.
Indiana has just one tournament remaining on its schedule for the regular season. The Hoosiers will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the Terese Hession Buckeye Invitational from April 12-13 at the OSU Scarlet Course. Then, Indiana will look to the Big Ten Championship from April 18-20 where they will have the opportunity to become back-to-back conference champions.
