Men's Golf | April 28
WESTFIELD, Ind. – Led by All-Tournament Team selection
Ian Bruchhauser (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak), the Northern Illinois University men's golf team finished in a tie for third place with Kent State Sunday at the 2024 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championship at The Club At Chatham Hills.
"We needed to play a pretty special round today coming from behind," said head coach
John Carlson. "Even par is certainly a really solid round in the conditions that had sustained 20-25 mile per hour winds. The guys played well and made enough birdies. We unfortunately just made too many doubles or worse which kept us where we were at the start of the day."
Bruchhauser was the Huskies' low scorer for the second straight round on Sunday, setting a career-low with a six-under par 66. He tied the lowest 18-hole score for an NIU golfer at a MAC Championship set previously in 1978 by Greg Dick. Bruchhauser was one-under par through the first four holes, eagled the par-five fifth, then birdied the sixth and the seventh to go to five under par. He made back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 to move to seven-under par for the round. His only bogey of the day came at the 18
th which capped his round of 66.
"Ian played incredible golf this weekend," Carlson said. "To shoot 68 and 66 on the weekend in these adverse conditions was great to see. He had a great short game and he drove it very well which ultimately led to the best finish of his career against a real strong field."
Bruchhauser joined Toledo's Barend Botha and Kent State's Bryce Reed as the only golfers this weekend to post a tournament-low 66. He finished in third place overall with a 54-hole score of seven-under par 209, besting his previous career-low of 210 set at Missouri State in the spring of 2023. He is the fourth NIU golfer to finish in the top three at the MAC Championship since 2004.
Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) also finished in the top-10 this weekend, tying for ninth at one-under par for his best finish at a MAC Championship. The junior carded a one-over par 73 on Sunday. After playing the first 12 holes at even par, Sluzas made his tournament-leading third eagle of the weekend at the par-five 13
th to go to two-under for the round. However, he played his last five holes at three-over to finish with a 73.
Felix Krammer (Waakirchen, Germany/Arkansas State) made six birdies on the day and posted a score of two-over par 74. He placed in a tie for 12
th at two-over par for the tournament.
Craig Long (Alpharetta, Ga./Milton) rounded out the NIU scoring group on Sunday with a three-over 75. In his final round as a Huskie, senior
Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) posted a round of 77.
NIU, as a team, put together a round of even par 288 on Sunday. It was the second-lowest team score of the final round behind Kent State's three-under 285 with the two teams tying for third place at one-under par for the tournament. This is the fourth consecutive year NIU has finished in the top-three at the MAC Championship.
"We have a loaded group returning next year, with four players from this year's returning team and sixth man
Patrick Bruminhent," said Carlson. "We'll be right back in the hunt next year. There's so much positivity going on around our program over the last couple years and we're ready to be a championship program.
Ball State won the MAC title at 10-under par with Miami finishing second at -5. Toledo's Barend Botha won the individual title with a 54-hole score of 11-under par 205.
--NIU--
2024 MAC Men's Golf Awards
Earl Yestingsmeier Sportsmanship Award: Danny Fisher, Miami
Kermit Blosser Coach of the Year: Mike Fleck, Ball State
Freshman of the Year: Morgan Blythe, Miami
Golfer of the Year: Barend Botha, Toledo
All-Tournament Team
Barend Botha, Toledo
Bryce Reed, Kent State
Ian Bruchhauser, NIU
Ali Khan, Ball State
Kash Bellar, Ball State
Danny Fisher, Miami
