Men's Golf | March 12

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Led by a top-10 finish from senior Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport), the Northern Illinois University men's golf team took seventh place at the GCU Invitational which wrapped up Wednesday at the GCU Golf Course.
 
"The same team that went out and had a strong finish in Las Vegas went out there and were determined to back up that finish and for the most part did," said head coach John Carlson. "We played 50 of 54 holes as a complete team. We just had a two-hour stint in the second round yesterday where we didn't handle the windy conditions well and that bumped us down from second to seventh."
 
Sluzas tied for 10^th at even par with a 54-hole score of 213. He opened the tournament Tuesday with a four-under par 67, tying his lowest round of the season at the White Sands Collegiate on Oct. 25. After a 77 in the second round, Sluzas carded five birdies Wednesday in a round of 69.
 
"We needed a great start from Ben and he gave us that," Carlson said. "Felix has been steady, not only in the spring, but the entire year. Those two continue to lead our team week after week."
 
Felix Krammer (Waakirchen, Germany/Arkansas State) tied for 14^th with a one-over par 215, his fifth straight top-20 finish. Krammer started the tournament with an even par 71, followed by a four-over par 75 on Tuesday afternoon. Krammer had NIU's lowest round on Wednesday with a final round three-under 68. He had three birdies on the day with an eagle at the par-four 14^th, the only eagle of the tournament at that hole.  
 
"It was very impressive," said Carlson on Krammer's eagle on Wednesday. "It was a drivable hole and he put it to about 25 feet just left of the hole location and made it. It was a huge momentum boost. We were all around that hole and everyone fed off that to finish strong today."
 
NIU had a team score of one-under par 283 in the first round Tuesday. Patrick Raupp (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) had a one-over 72 with Craig Long rounding out the scoring group with a two-over 73. Raupp posted the Huskies' lowest round in the second round Tuesday afternoon with a three-over par 74. NIU was two-under as a team on Wednesday. Sluzas and Krammer were a combined five-under par. Beau Petersen (Gretna, Neb./Gretna) had an even par 71 as Long carded a three-over 74.
 
The Huskies finished the tournament at 15-over par and in seventh place, three strokes ahead of Wichita State. Grand Canyon won its tournament at -12 with New Mexico State second at +1 and Pacific third at +2.
 
NIU is in action March 17-18 at the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate, hosted by Arizona at Tucson Country Club in Tucson, Ariz.
 
--NIU--