The Iowa women’s golf team is off to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in its final tournament of the regular season — the Big Ten championships, hosted by Purdue.
The tournament will be played over three days. The Hawkeyes will shoot the first 36 holes (two rounds) today, followed by 18 holes each on Saturday and April 26.
According to Golfweek, four Big Ten teams are coming into the tournament ranked in the top 50 — No. 11 Purdue, No. 20 Michigan State, No. 25 Ohio State, and No. 50 Michigan.
Iowa is coming off the Lady Buckeye Invitational last week, finishing 12th of 15 teams with a team score of 962 (98-over).
Since returning at 1 a.m. Monday, the team had a low-key week.
“We took a day off on Monday for NCAA regulations,” assistant coach Adam Kaufman said. “Then [Monday night], we decided to have an unorganized practice on Tuesday.”
The season has been marred by inconsistency, with one or two rounds troubling the team each tournament.
“We went through some struggles this season, but are going into Big Tens with a positive attitude,” freshman Chelsea Harris said.
The Hawkeyes will send seniors Tyrette Metzendorf and Becky Quinby, junior Alison Cavanaugh, sophomores Laura Cilek and Lauren Forbes, and Harris.
Metzendorf and Quinby have finished top two for Iowa all season long, but they feel there is improvement to be made this weekend.
“We go out to do our best and lead the team,” Quinby said. “Neither of us are playing perfectly, so hopefully, we can really come out and do really well at Big Tens.”
With rain moving through West Lafayette on Tuesday, the conditions should be good for Iowa,
At last year’s tournament held by Penn State, Iowa finished tied for eighth with a team score of 1,231 (79 over). Metzendorf led the team with a 295 (7 over) and place third.
The tournament will be played at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex on the Kampen Course. The par 72, 18-hole course plays 6,333 yards. Tee times for the first round will begin at 8 a.m., today.
“We’ve struggled to put five scores together each round all season long,” Kaufman said. “Hopefully, it’ll all come together this weekend.”