DeKALB - The Northern Illinois University men's golf team will begin their spring campaign at the Loyola Intercollegiate this Saturday, February 25 hosted by Loyola (Md.) at the Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Arizona. The three day, 54-hole tournament will culminate on Monday, February 27.
The Palm Valley Golf Club features two courses, the Lakes course and the Palms course. The Loyola Intercollegiate will be played on the par-72 Arthur Hills-designed Palms Course that stretches over 7,000 yards. The Palms course uses the natural terrain of the Arizona desert to create a challenging course of rolling fairways, dense desert foliage and abundant sand traps.
NIU set numerous records at Palm Valley last spring as
Joo-Young Lee set the individual 18-hole record with 66 strokes, end route to medalist honors at the tournament. Lee shot a 202 in the tournament as the Huskies posted an 838-stroke total to finish fifth. The new-look Huskies added sophomore transfers
Matt Cholod and
Thomas DeMarco from Morehead State to their spring roster. The duo both completed successful fall seasons for the Eagles and hail from Ontario, Canada.
This past fall, Cholod recorded the third best stroke average at MSU with a 74.22 clip in nine rounds. He played in 10 tournaments last season, averaging 76.7 strokes per round and had his career low tournament (74-68-78=220) and round score (68) at the Northern Kentucky Fall Collegiate Classic. His career-best finish (T14) occurred at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship.
DeMarco paced Morehead State in the fall, averaging 72.25 strokes per round. As a freshman, he competed in 11 tournaments for a total of 32 rounds. He posted a 76.2 stroke average and had his best performance at the Gary Freeman BCU Spring Invitational where he finished tied for third (70-68-73=211) and earned OVC Golfer of the Week honors.
As a team the Huskies look to continue their momentum from the fall after finishing in the top-10 in two of their last three tournaments, including their best finish, fifth, at the Northern Intercollegiate.
Salvador Rocha posted consecutive top-30 finishes to wrap up the fall at the Northern Intercollegiate and Pine Tree Intercollegiate. He posted a team best 75.43 stroke average during the fall while
Charlie Cameron recorded the team's best individual finish, a tie for 16th, at the Northern Intercollegiate.
The Huskies will not return to action until March 17 following this weekend's action. NIU will play at the Grand Canyon Invitational in Phoenix, Ariz.
LOYOLA INTERCOLLEGIATE
Feb. 25-27, 2017
Palm Valley Golf Club (Goodyear, Ariz.)
TEAMS: Air Force, Arkansas State, Connecticut, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Michigan, Elon, Loyola, Missouri State, Murray State, Northern Illinois, Seton Hall, SIUE, St. John's, UT-Martin and Utah Valley
NIU LINEUP: 1.
Salvador Rocha; 2.
Charlie Cameron; 3.
Thomas DeMarco; 4.
Matt Cholod; 5.
Jordan Less; Individual:
Russell Matos
