Men's Golf | April 28

DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University men's golf team culminates a challenging and successful spring season at the Mid-American Conference Championship, hosted by Ohio University at Canebrake Club in Athens, Ala. beginning Sunday, April 30.
 
Play begins at 8 a.m. CT on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Live scoring is available on GolfStat with the tournament being broadcast on the MAC website Sunday and on ESPN+ for the final two rounds.
 
The Huskies have posted three third-place finishes out of five tournaments this spring, including in each of the last two tournaments at Iowa and Ohio State. NIU has also tested itself against the top teams in the nation at Stanford's The Goodwin, held at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, and at Vanderbilt's Mason Rudolph Championship. Head Coach John Carlson said those events have prepared the Huskies for a run at a MAC title this week.
 
"We won't see anything at the MAC Championship that we haven't already seen this year, both from a course setup standpoint and also a competition standpoint," said Carlson. "We've seen the best individual golfers and best teams in the country. I think that preparation is exactly what we need when the lights are brighter at the conference championship. I have been there as a coach leading a team to a championship in a major conference and I look forward the opportunity ahead."
 
NIU has finished in the top three in each of the last two MAC tournaments, tying for third place in 2022 at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville after a runner-up showing in 2021. The last time NIU had back-to-back top-three finishes at the MAC Men's Golf Championship was in the 1970s when the Huskies took third in 1975 before winning the 1976 title.
 
Sophomore Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) has been on a tear, earning back-to-back MAC Golfer of the Week awards the last two weeks. He has been named Golfer of the Week three times this season and is one of three Huskies to earn the honor this season. Tommy Dunsire (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) got the award on Oct. 6 after his top-10 finish at the Marquette Intercollegiate. Freshman Ian Bruchhauser (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) opened the spring with a Golfer of the Week performance at the Missouri State Intercollegiate, finishing in second place with a 54-hole score of three-under par 210.
 
Sluzas won last weekend's Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State by two strokes over Kent State's Chris Vandette, finishing at two-under par as the only player in the field under par. It was his second win of the season, tying for first place at the season-opening Badger Invitational in September. Sluzas tied for third at the Hawkeye Invitational April 14-15, scoring under par in all three rounds and tying his career-best score with a 66.
 
"Ben clearly is a leader when he gets going out there," Carlson said. "The energy surrounding all the players is very positive. When you see him hit 350-yard drives, attacking par-fives and making birdies in bunches, it certainly carries the momentum forward in each round."
 
NIU will also look to its senior leaders Dunsire and Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park). Dunsire has finished sixth in each of the last two tournaments and has five top-10 finishes this season. He leads NIU in scoring average at 71.9 this season. Place has finished in the top-20 twice this spring, tying for 16^th place at even par at The Goodwin with back-to-back rounds of one-under par 69. He was NIU's top finisher at last year's MAC Championship at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, tying for seventh place while Dunsire tied for 15^th.
 
"Both Tommy and Zach have been a part of our runner-up finish two years ago and the third-place finish at White Eagle Golf Club last year," said Carlson. "Both of those guys are great leaders. I know their experience in the MAC Championship will help us but Ben, Ian and Campbell Wolf (Mechanicsburg, Pa./ETSU) all possess the talent and have put in the preparation to be ready, both mentally and physically, for the MAC Championship."
 
--NIU--