SALEM, S.C.  – Coming into the NCAA Men's Golf Regional at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls, the Northern Illinois University Huskies were a relative unknown. Making their first appearance in an NCAA postseason tournament since 1976 after winning their first Mid-American Conference Championship since 1985, NIU was seeded 12th in the 14-team field.
 
After tying the school record with an opening round 275 at the par 72, 7,126-yard course, and following with a 10-under par 275 Tuesday, the Huskies entered the final round Wednesday in fifth place – five strokes ahead of sixth place Georgia Southern and seven clear of host Clemson - with a spot in the NCAA Championships available if they could hold onto that spot.  
 
Despite playing both of those teams almost evenly through 12 holes Wednesday, the Huskies could not hold on, eventually finishing ninth after shooting even par 288 in the final round. The Huskies' total score of 841 still ranked as the second lowest 54-hole team score since 1980 and left head coach John Carlson very proud of his team.
 
"It's a different animal when you go to the NCAA events, you're playing with all the best teams in the country," Carlson said. "We showed up this week, we gave ourselves an opportunity to advance heading into the final nine holes. At the end of the day, we had a great year, we broke records and with the team coming back next year, NIU golf is certainly trending in the right direction. We're going to miss [seniors] Tommy Dunsire and Campbell Wolf, but the way that Zach (Place), Ben (Sluzas) and Ian (Bruchhauser) competed this entire spring, they were so consistent, they are really the true future of NIU golf."
 
Place paced the Huskies on Wednesday, finishing at three-under 69 with just one bogey and four birdies on the round. He was NIU's top finisher overall as he tied for 14th overall at nine under par (207) with all three rounds under par (67-71-69). Bruchhauser, the lone underclassman in the line-up, capped his freshman year by shooting five-under 211 in the NCAA Regional to tie for 27th with a two-over par 74 on Wednesday. Dunsire was one stroke back at four-under 212 after a final round 73 to tie for 34th followed by Wolf (-2, 214) and Sluzas (+2, 218).
 
"I was driving it really well off the tee, hitting my irons pretty well and getting a lot of chances at birdies [this week]," Place said. "It was awesome, through 12 holes we were above the cut line and it was fun. We've never been in this position as a team before. Hopefully we get into this position again and we know how to deal with it a little bit better. It's huge for everybody on this team to get really motivated. At the end of the day, it's so exciting for us and our team that we were that close."
 
Through nine – and even 12 – holes Wednesday, the trip to Arizona for the NCAA Championships remained very much in play for NIU. The Huskies, who started on the back nine for the third consecutive round, were six under at the turn with Ben Sluzas' eagle on his ninth hole helping him to a three-under start. Place (-2), Dunsire (-1) and Bruchhauser (E) also were solid through the first nine and NIU's margin over Georgia Southern was four through nine.
 
NIU began the final nine holes well with Campbell Wolf coming through at one under after an eagle on the 11th hole. Place and Dunsire recorded birdies on their 10th and 11th holes, respectively. Unfortunately, Dunsire's birdie would be the last red number on the board for NIU for the next five holes as Georgia Southern moved into a tie with NIU on the 12th hole and went ahead with three birdies over the next three holes. The Huskies played holes 12 through 16 at six over par.
 
"In the first two rounds we hit a lot of shots inside 10 feet and today the shots were 20-25 feet," Carlson said. "We had a couple of bad breaks off the tee and it all culminated in us shooting a few over par in those final nine holes when we really needed to continue to make birdies and pars like the other teams today. Ultimately, we came in just outside the number."
 
With Clemson and Texas A&M – who started on the front nine in the second wave of tee times – also charging, NIU's even par finish put them in ninth. Georgia Southern shot 10 strokes better than NIU on the day, the Eagles were eventually passed by both Clemson (275, -13) and Texas A&M (271, -17) who finished tied for the fifth spot and went to a playoff, with Texas A&M eventually taking the spot.
 
Georgia Tech won the NCAA Salem Regional, with Arkansas, North Carolina and New Mexico also advancing to the NCAA Championships.
 
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