Aug. 18, 2014

2014-15 Men's Golf Schedule | Harvest Invitational Registration

DeKALB - NIU men’s golf released its 2014-15 schedule Thursday afternoon, an 11 tournament schedule that includes the fourth annual Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest farms, hosted by the Huskies September 5-7.

The season kicks off Saturday, August 23 when the Huskies host the NIU Harvest Invitational, the programs annual kickoff fundraiser at Rich Harvest Farms. All proceeds from the fundraiser go to the program. Huskie fans can enter to play individually, as a foursome or choose to partake in dinner with the team and with friends of the program at Rich Harvest Farms.

“The Harvest Invitational is a great way for NIU fans to come play the home of the NIU Huskies, Rich Harvest Farms, and interact with our student athletes on the course,” said Head Coach Tom Porten. “Fans can also come out to the course and enjoy dinner with the team, held at the Pavilion, featuring the Rich Families’ famous Museum of Cars.

Rich Harvest Farms served as the host for the 2009 Solheim Cup, a 2014 NCAA Men's Golf Regional and will host the 2015 Palmer Cup, 2015 WGA Western Amateur and LPGA International Crown in 2016. Fans can register for the event on the link at the top of the page. Registration closes August 22.

The regular season will kickoff Friday, September 5 when the Huskies host the  fourth annual Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. The three day tournament will host 13 teams from around country, including Central Florida (No. 6), Houston (No. 10) and Virginia (No. 11), which ended the season in the top-15 of the GCAA coaches poll.

“We’re very excited to again host the Northern Intercollegiate this fall and we want thank Mr. Rich for allowing us to host some of the top teams in the country at Rich Harvest Farms,” said Porten. “We’ve hosted top-caliber teams there and that tradition continues this year.”

The Huskies will stick around the Midwest during the fall, traveling as far East as Ohio State on September 28-29 to play in the Jack Nicklaus Invitational. NIU will close the fall season October 13-14 at the Sagamore Fall Preview, hosted by Ball State. The Huskies will also play at tournaments hosted by Indiana (September 20-21) and Marquette (October 5-7), site of the 2017 U.S. Open, Erin Hills.

NIU will open its spring season February 20-22 at the Bayou City Collegiate Championship, hosted by Houston at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Texas.

“The Bayou City Collegiate Championship is a good tournament for us to start the championship season. It will give our guys a chance to play a PGA Tour course against some of the nation’s top competition. Alabama opened its season there last year, and obviously they went on to win the national championship last May,” added Porten.

The Huskies will then play two consecutive tournaments in the state of Florida, playing in the Talis Park Challenge in Naples on March 15-16 and returning to Lake Worth on March 28-30 for Florida Atlantic’s Slomin Autism Invitational.

After consecutive tournaments in April, the Liberty Spring Invitational (April 10-11) in Virginia and the Boilermaker Invitational (April 18-19) in Indiana, the Huskies will then play at the MAC Championship May 1-3 at Sandridge in Chardon, Ohio.

“I’m very happy with our schedule,” said Porten, “we’re fortunate to take on some very good competition so close to home in the fall season and then hit the road in the fall and test ourselves on some very good courses around the country in the spring. Overall, from the opener at home to the end of the regular season at Purdue, this our strongest schedule in school history. It will put our schedule inside the top-75 in the country.”

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