Men's Golf | September 7

HARTFORD, WI – The Northern Illinois University men's golf team opened its 2021-22 season with an 11^th place finish at the Marquette Intercollegiate, which wrapped up play Tuesday at Erin Hills Golf Course.
 
The Huskies battled all kinds of weather conditions Tuesday morning, including a lengthy rain delay, to finish the day with a five-over par score of 293. At three-under par for the tournament, NIU finished two strokes behind UC Davis for 10th. NIU finished ahead of Southern California and Ohio State, both programs that received votes in the Bushnell/Golfweek Preseason Coaches Poll. Sixteenth-ranked Texas A&M won the tournament by four strokes over South Florida.
 
"Our guys did a good job battling through that tough stretch of weather this morning. We got all kinds of weather just today alone, from 30 mile per hour winds to pouring rain and eventually sunshine," said head coach John Carlson on the conditions NIU played in Tuesday. "There's a lot of poise with this team and we saw it this week with all kinds of different conditions, playing a US Open venue and getting off to one of our best starts against a stacked field."
 
Junior Luc Warnock (Windsor, Ontario, Canada/E.J. Lajeunesse) had his best tournament in his NIU career at Erin Hills. Warnock tied for 17^th with a 54-hole score of four-under par 212, a career-best for his first top-20 showing. He also posted the best 18-hole score of his career twice, opening the tournament with back-to-back rounds of two-under par 70 on Sunday and Monday.  Warnock had five birdies against just one bogey in his first 36 holes.
 
"Luc had a really clean week and avoided bogeys," Carlson said. "I attribute that to his management and how he processes each of his shots. He struck his irons as good as he has in a long time and drove in a lot of fairways and it produced the best result of his collegiate career."
 
Senior Tommy Dunsire (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) had the Huskies' lowest round of the tournament on Monday with a four-under par 68 in the second round. Dunsire shot an even par 72 in Sunday's opening round and was even par through his first eight holes Monday. He then birdied six of the next eight holes, including a stretch of four straight from 13 to 16 that put him at six-under for his round before bogeys on 17 and 18. The senior finished the tournament x.
 
Dunsire's 68 highlighted NIU's best round of the tournament, which came on Monday. The Huskies were six-under par in the second round for a team score of 282. Warnock and senior Reece Nilsen (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills/Grand Canyon) both carded rounds of two-under par 70 with Michael Cascino (Palos Park, Ill./Providence Catholic/Butler) rounding out the scoring group with a 74.
 
"The front nine played very difficult this week and yesterday we were really patient and got to one-under by the turn," Carlson said. "When we made the turn, the guys got hot with the putter. Tommy's stretch of four birdies in a row helped us get to six-under with was a really solid score and signs of what's ahead for us."
 
Nilsen finished in a tie for 39^th with a 54-hole score of even par 216. Freshman Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) finished the tournament at seven-over par but saved his best golf of the week for the final round Tuesday. Sluzas shot an even par 72 to tie Warnock for NIU's low round of the final day.
 
"We need to continue to feed off this momentum," Carlson said. "We went really hard for three weeks leading up to this event and definitely earned respect nationally. We have a team that's hungry and can't wait to get to the next tournament. This is a team that has great leadership and has won at the collegiate level and the amateur level."
 
NIU also had a group of golfers play in the Washington County Individual at Washington Country Golf Course. Junior Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) tied for 13^th after rounds of 72 and 68 on the par-72 course.
 
The Huskies are next in competition at the Badger Invitational Sept. 26-28, hosted by Wisconsin at University Ridge Golf Club in Madison, Wis.
 
--NIU--