Happy at home
Shoemake, Valparaiso excited about hosting conference tourney
Kylie Shoemake gets to end her golf career at Valparaiso University in front of a hometown crowd.
Shoemake, a senior from Lake Central, will lead the Crusaders in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, with only two rounds played on Monday and Tuesday at Sand Creek Country Club. Sunday’s scheduled opening round has been postponed due to inclement weather.
It’s the first time Valparaiso has hosted a conference tournament in any sport in the Missouri Valley and the first time for the women’s golf program to ever host a conference tourney, according to assistant sports information director Brandon Vickrey.
Shoemake, who’s the No. 1 golfer for the Crusaders, is playing in her last event.
“I’m really excited that we are hosting the conference,” she said. “I’m sad that it’s ending for me.”
Tiffany Curtis, a junior from Crown Point, likes playing at a course she knows.
“I’m really excited that we get to play in the Region,” Curtis said. ”It should be a lot of fun.”
Valparaiso coach Jill McCoy is excited about hosting the tournament, too.
She might be more excited that the program will finally be able to practice at their home course when the tournament is over.
The Crusaders moved their home course from The Course at Aberdeen to Sand Creek starting with this school year.
However, the Crusaders have been prohibited from playing the course for a year before the tournament because the conference doesn’t want them to have an unfair advantage.
Sand Creek has the best practice facility in the area along with three nine-hole courses. McCoy said playing there should have a long-term impact on the program.
“We just have so much more room,” McCoy said.
Valparaiso played at Sand Creek in the three-day MVC Fall Preview Tournament and finished ninth out of nine teams. The winner of the conference tournament will advance to the NCAA Regional.
Missouri State is the favorite to win. The Bears won the preview tourney by two strokes over Illinois State.
McCoy said being close to home should help her team.
“They won’t have the anxiety of traveling,” McCoy said.
McCoy has had her team practicing its putting and chipping in preparation for the tournament.
She said the Crusaders aren’t in a realistic position to win, but they would like to move up from their last-place finish in the preview.
The forecast is for windy and cold weather.
“We’ve worked a lot on our short game,” McCoy said. “We know we won’t hit all the greens. We have to take our hits when they come. We are going to make bogeys. We just don’t want to post big numbers.”