The Hawkeyes will head to Columbia, Missouri, for Johnie Imes Invitational.
By Jake Mosbach
[email protected]
Excellent depth could be the key for the Hawkeye women’s golf team as it tackles its fall season.
Today, the team will return to action in Columbia, Missouri, as it competes for the title at the Johnie Imes Invitational in its second tournament of the fall.
The tournament will run over two days, with 36 holes today and the final 18 holes on Tuesday. There will be a shotgun start at 8 a.m. today and 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
In the Hawks’ first tournament, they earned their first win in nearly three years at the Diane Thomason Invitational at Finkbine. Iowa sophomore Jessica Ip captured the individual title.
Ip will have the lineup’s No. 1 spot, followed by junior Jessie Sindlinger, senior Amy Ihm, sophomore Elisa Suarez, and senior Briana Midkiff.
The lineup, which will vary from tournament to tournament, is a testament to the talented roster that the Hawkeyes have this season, said head coach Megan Menzel.
“Our lineup is definitely not solidified at this point, and we’ll continue to have some qualifications,” she said. “We have a lot of depth this year, and it’s very early in the season.”
The Hawkeyes will play against a much larger field than they did at Finkbine two weeks ago; 18 teams will compete.
The teams are Iowa, Akron, Arkansas State, Bradley, Coastal Carolina, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida International, Illinois State, Kansas State, Mercer, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, Rutgers, Missouri, Arkansas-Little Rock, Missouri-Kansas City, South Florida, and Wichita State.
After the Hawkeyes’ win two weeks ago, the coaching staff made sure that the golfers didn’t get caught up in the hype.
“We have been harping on them for the last two weeks to remember to do the small things, because if we do those things the rest will take care of itself,” assistant coach Mike Roters said.
“We still haven’t proved anything yet. We have a lot more work to do to get a target on our back.”
Ip, whose three-round score of 212 broke an Iowa record, said the team’s first road trip of the fall season is an challenge that she is ready to face.
“I still have the same philosophy,” she said. “Hit the fairways, hit the greens … if anything is unfamiliar to me, I just see it as a challenge that I need to take on.”
Menzel agreed with Ip, saying that the road test will give the golfers a better indicator of their talent.
“We’ve spent a lot of time preparing at Finkbine the past couple of weeks, and now we’ll start playing other courses more often,” she said last week. “We need to see what our players can do on different courses and continue to evaluate what we need to work on to get better.”
Follow @RealJakeMosbach for news, updates, and analysis on the Iowa women’s golf team.
