After struggling in tournament play back-to-back weekends, the Wisconsin men’s golf team heads to Kampen Course at Purdue University this weekend. This 7,431-yard, decade-old course will be the last chance for the team to prove themselves before heading into the Big Ten Championships from April 25-27 and NCAA Regionals from May 15-17.
During the past two tournaments, the Badgers finished No. 6 and No. 8, their two worst finishes of the year. However, head coach Jim Schuman is relying on the experience of his upperclassman to distance them from the competition on the tough course.
“We are more experienced than last year’s team,” Schuman said. “With this weekend we are right in the mix to make it to regionals, so our experience will play a large role in being successful.”
Last spring during the Boilermaker Invitational, Wisconsin finished No. 8 in the tournament. Led by current senior Jeff Kaiser and junior Dan Woltman, the Badgers combined with a score of 610 strokes after two rounds of play. However, due to nagging injuries, the team will be without one of their leading scorers in Woltman at Kampen. Instead, junior Tyler Obermueller will look to step up after a strong outing this past weekend at the Ohio State University Kepler Invitational. Obermueller ended the tournament tied for seventh place with a score of 224, 11-over par and six strokes short of the tournament champion.
“After this past weekend, I finally feel like I’m hitting the ball a lot better,” Obermueller said. “I went out and played the last couple of days in the wind and have been playing a lot and working on the parts of my game that I haven’t felt comfortable with.”
During the Boilermaker Invitational last season, the junior from River Falls, Wis., finished in a tie at No. 56, averaging a score of 78.5 at the par-72 course.
“In the past at this course, it has been my mental game that has distracted me more than anything,” Obermueller said. “I was leading the golf tournament last year at 3-under through seven holes in bad weather conditions, and then I let the weather get the best of me. Hopefully I can be mentally stronger than the last few years and play smarter this time around.”
In order for Wisconsin to be successful, it will take an impressive performance from more than just Obermueller. Even though five of their players finished in the top 75 last weekend, Schuman stressed the need for improvement in each player’s short game.
“Sometimes you don’t get the bounces or rolls you want. We have to go out there and be a little bit more intelligent around the greens,” Shuman said. “I didn’t think we did a good job with our short game last week, and we will need to improve that for this weekend to shoot well.”
Finally, one of the factors that could play a pivotal role in the players’ performance is the weather. The tournament was shortened to two rounds last spring due to the weather; however, the Badgers understand they are on the same level as the other teams when it comes to Mother Nature.
“The weather is not a factor,” Schuman said. “If it rains, it rains for everybody, and if it’s cold, then it’s cold for everybody. We definitely will not be using weather as an excuse. We just need to go out there and get the job done.”
This weekend calls for a high of 57 degrees and thunderstorms on Saturday, and 71 degrees and partly cloudy on Sunday. When battling against game-changing environments, the team realizes the mental aspect of golf could play a large role in the Badgers’ success.
“We just need to mentally prepare a little bit better and play stronger under bad conditions,” Obermueller said. “We played in pretty bad weather last week, and since it may rain this week, we need to be prepared for every situation.”
