From Oct. 13-15, The Badgers competed in what ended up being their best tournament performance, so far, of the fall season at the Bryson Invitational. They finished eighth out of the 15 programs in attendance. This was their first top 10 of the fall.
This was definitely a nice sight for sore eyes after eleventh place finishes at the Gopher Invitational and Badger Invitational and a twelfth place finish at the Marquette Intercollegiate. The Badgers showed firepower as a team, finishing the first eighteen holes within the top five, even if they finished the tournament in eighth.
Even more notably, true freshman Vijay Kumar dazzled this week, finishing 17th on the player’s leaderboard. He fired off rounds of three-under, four-under and three-over to notch the first top-20 of his young career. Additionally, he was in third place after 36 holes.
The Badgers had a wonderful start on day one, as they were led by senior Spencer Turtz, who shot four-under and Kumar, who shot three-under.
Sophomore William Harned, the current front-runner for the WSGA Men’s Amateur Player of the Year, also poured in a nice round of even par.
It was sophomore Charles Erlandson and senior Jacob Beckman who were at the rear, both shooting rounds of two-over. Still, those were two good rounds to open up a tournament with. In fact, good enough to have the Badgers within the top five after day one.
Round two saw Kumar step into another gear, following up his first round of three-under with a second round of four-under. His two round score of seven-under had him in third place, just two shots off the lead.
Erlandson also made a huge climb on day two, as he fired off an electric round of three-under. This moved him up 22 spots, from 46th up to 24th.
Truly, everyone in the field tore the course up all day – as Harned’s rock-solid day of one-over dropped him 17 spots on the player’s leaderboard. He fell all the way to 47th, sitting at one-over through two rounds.
Turtz slowed down, going two-over on day two after his four-under first round. He, like Harned, had an unfortunate fall down the leaderboard – a drop of 19 spots down to 21st.
Beckman was scratched in round two, as he shot three-over. His tournament score of five-over had him in 69th after the first two days.
The Badgers also had one golfer competing as an individual this week, junior James Boustead. He had rounds of nine-over and five-over, placing him in 83rd after the first two rounds.
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With 18 to play, the leaderboard was unbelievably congested. First place was at 18-under, third place was at 15-under, the Badgers, in seventh place, were at nine under, while twelfth place was at three under.
No matter what, the Badgers needed to have a big third round, as a strong push could lead to a podium finish, but a slow start could see the Badgers finish in the bottom four.
The Badgers were one of only four teams to shoot over par on the final day, as 73% of the teams in attendance posted even par or better. Thankfully, the Badgers only dropped one spot into their eighth place finish.
Harned certainly did his part, as he posted a great round of two-under, skyrocketing him up eighteen spots into a top-30 finish at 29th.
Turtz holed five birdies in a scrappy one-over finish, dropping him eight spots into a tie with Harned at 29th. They both finished the tournament one-under par.
Erlandson and Beckman both matched Turtz with rounds of one-over, but with drastically different effects. Erlandson fell 14 spots into a 38th place finish, while Beckman actually moved up two spots into a 67th place finish. They finished the tournament at even par and six-over, respectively.
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The hot-swinging freshman Vijay Kumar just couldn’t get it going on the final day. After a three birdie, three bogey front nine, he bogeyed on holes 10, 11 and 12 en route to a round of three-over. He dropped 14 spots into a finish at 17th. Still, an electric week from the young freshman.
Boustead wrapped up his week with a final round of two-over, finishing the week sixteen-over and in 82nd.
The Badgers have one tournament left this fall, the Fallen Oak Invitational, hosted by Ole Miss from Oct. 18-20. The invitational will serve as the last chance for the Badgers to build some momentum before the almost four month break from tournament action. After the hot start this week, fans hope for some of this momentum to carry over into their next event.