Hawkeyes Look to Improve at Big Ten Championships

April 19, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s golf team will tee off at the Big Ten Championships April 22-24. Northwestern will host the 72-hole tournament at par 72 Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe, Ill. The tournament will begin with 36-holes on Friday and will be followed by 18-holes on both Saturday and Sunday. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Kelly Crawford
“We have to focus on the Big Ten Championships and let go of Ohio State. It was a poor showing on a whole lot of levels. Right now we are expected to have similar weather conditions and we just have to be mentally stronger then we were last week. We’re much better than how we played and we need to perform to our potential despite the conditions.”

THE LINE-UP
Kristi Cardwell, Brianna Coopman, Laura Cilek, Gigi DiGrazia, Lauren Forbes and Chelsea Harris will compete for the Hawkeyes. The Iowa scorecard will include the top four scores.

THE COMPETITION
All 11 Big Ten teams will compete at the league’s conference tournament. The conference claims five teams ranked in Golfweek’s top 50, including two teams, Purdue (No.4) and Michigan State (No. 19), ranked in the top 25. Purdue is the defending champion, winning in 2010 with a six over 1158 (289-282-294-293). Purdue also returns the defending individual champion, Laura Gonzalez-Escallon. Gonzalez-Escallon won last year after shooting a 280 (71-70-70-69, -8).

LAST YEAR AT THE BIG TEN’S
Iowa finished 11th at last year’s event, hosted by Wisconsin at the par 72 University of Wisconsin Golf Course (University Ridge). The Hawkeyes carded a 1255 (314-313-304-324, +103). Chelsea Harris led the Black and Gold with a 314 (81-80-73-80, +26). She finished in a 44th place tie.

GETTING A SECOND CHANCE
The Hawkeyes have already played once this season at Lake Shore Country Club. Iowa competed in the Lady Northern Invitational, also hosted by Northwestern, Oct. 11-12. The Hawkeyes finished in 11th place with a 918 (311-303-304, +54). Junior Chelsea Harris fired an even third round to finish with a team-low 228 (80-76-72, +12). She ended the 54-hole tournament in a 34th place tie.

LAST TIME OUT
Iowa took 11th place at the Lady Buckeye Invitational after firing a 997 (326-331-340, +133) during the 54-hole tournament. Sophomore Kristi Cardwell was the Hawkeyes top individual. She shot a 247 (82-77-88, +31) to finish in a 48th place tie.