Men's Golf | April 26

WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University men's golf team finished the first round of the 2024 Mid-American Conference Championship at The Club At Chatham Hills Friday afternoon tied for third place at even par.
 
"It was a solid start to the tournament for us," said head coach John Carlson. "You can't win the event on the first day but you can certainly lose it. We did a good job eliminating bogeys, for the most part, on the par-fives and it was a really good driving day on those holes which contributed to low scoring for us."
 
The Huskies have two golfers in the top-10 after 18 holes. Junior Felix Krammer (Waakirchen, Germany/Arkansas State) carded a three-under par 69 to tie Jordan Gilkison of Kent State and Bowling Green's Brandon Rattray for third place. After a bogey on the second hole, Krammer made birdies on the fifth, sixth, and seventh to get to two under. He finished the front nine with a one-under par 35 and started the back nine with birdies at 10 and 12 to go to three under. Krammer got to four-under par with a birdie at the 15^th but finished bogey-birdie-bogey for his round of 69.
 
"It was great to see a three-under par round from Felix," Carlson said. "He's been working hard and has shown signs that he had a round like this in him. To do it under the pressure of the MAC Championship really shows a lot about his competitiveness and his skill set."
 
Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) is one of five golfers tied for sixth at two-under par. He was one-over through four holes, then made an eagle at the par-five fifth and a birdie at the seventh to get to two-under par. Sluzas made a second eagle in his round at 13 but played the back-nine at even par to finish with a round of 70. He played the four par-fives on the course at six-under par.
 
Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) bounced back from a 39 on the front nine to shoot one-under par over the last nine holes to finish two-over par on the day with a 74. Ian Bruchhauser (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) rounded out the scoring group Friday with a three-over par 75. Place enters Saturday's second round tied for 22^nd while Bruchhauser is tied for 25^th. Craig Long (Alpharetta, Ga./Milton) carded a three-over par 75 and is tied for 33^rd.
 
The Huskies tied Kent State on the day with a team score of even par 288. NIU led the field in par-five scoring in the first round at 12-under par. Ball State and Miami lead the championship at five-under par. Toledo's Barend Botha is in first place individually with a five-under par 67 with Danny Fisher of Miami second at four-under.
 
Saturday's second round begins at 8 a.m. CT.
 
--NIU--