After a rough tournament at Ohio State, the Iowa women’s golf team will seek redemption this weekend at the Big Ten Tournament, to be held at the Fort Golf Resort in Indianapolis. 

Coming off the Lady Buckeye Invitational, the team placed ninth of 12 teams, with Jessica Ip placing the highest for the Hawkeyes. She came in 12th. 

“I think it was a little bit of a wake-up call,” head coach Megan Menzel said. “Maybe a little bit of a refocusing moment for them, and I feel that they will come out and play well this week.” 

Menzel credits the lack of performance in the Lady Buckeye to the golfers’ pushing too hard in their hunger for a win, which can be self-destructive in golf. 

The Big Ten Championship lineup will include Elisa Suarez playing first, followed by Jessie Sindlinger, Amy Ihm, Shelby Phillips, Ip, and Morgan Kukla. Suarez plans to rejoin the team after not playing in last week’s tournament because of a minor injury. 

Three of the six players in the tournament are freshmen, but despite its being their first Big Ten tourney, they are confident in their games. 

“I’m a little nervous,” freshman Kukla said. “I just have to treat it like any other tournament and just go out there and play my game.”

The team is focusing on taking it one shot at a time and not thinking about past bad shots and shots that they have to make in the future. Their goal is to focus on their game hole by hole. 

The difference this week for Iowa is that it is going to walk into the Big Ten Championships not worrying about how the other teams are going to play or even how the Hawkeyes stack up against the other teams. 

“Coming off last weekend, we just have to come back no expectations and play our best,” sophomore Sindlinger said.    

Follow @RodEngblom on Twitter for news, updates, and analysis about the Iowa women’s golf team.