Men's Golf | March 15
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Northern Illinois University men's golf team battled a stacked field at Georgia Southern's Schenkel Invitational this weekend and finished 14th as the tournament wrapped up on Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club.
The Huskies posted a team score of +8 872, one stroke behind Maryland and Indiana who tied for 12th. Utah, ranked 26th in the country, won the tournament at -21. Georgia Southern finished second at -17, one stroke ahead of West Virginia and two ahead of #23 Notre Dame.
NIU was tied for 12th after Friday's opening round with a team score of 292. The Huskies improved by 11 strokes on Saturday with a seven-under par 281, their fourth-lowest single round team score of the season, and moved up to eighth place. NIU was 11-over par on Sunday.
"We played solid golf for 45 holes this week," said head coach
John Carlson. "We struggled finishing our final round today, going six-over on the back nine. We didn't capitalize on a huge opportunity today against one of the strongest fields we will face this season."
Sophomore
Beau Petersen (Gretna, Neb./Gretna) led the charge on Saturday with a season-low score of five-under par 67. He did not have a bogey on his scorecard and made birdie on three of his last five holes.
Jack Mulligan (Burr Ridge, Ill./Hinsdale Central) was also under par int he second round with a 69. Mulligan had seven birdies in the round, six of which came in his last 13 holes.
Craig Long (Alpharetta, Ga./Milton) posted an even par 72 in the second round Saturday as
Patrick Raupp (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) rounded out the scoring group with a one-over par 73.
Petersen also led NIU in scoring on Sunday with a two-over par 74. The sophomore was NIU's top finisher on the weekend, posting a season-best finish of t-27 with a 54-hole score of even par 216. Long tied for 43rd place with a three-over par 219. He had NIU's low round in Friday's opening round with a two-under par 70. Raupp and Mulligan both tied for 49th place at four-over par.
"We are young but the experience we're gaining will prove to be valuable as we start the championship segment of our schedule at Vanderbilt," Carlson said.
NIU starts a stretch of three tournaments in three weekends at Vanderbilt's Mason Rudolph Championship April 3-5 at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
—NIU—
