As the spring hits full stride, the Wisconsin men’s golf team will head to the Big Ten Championships this weekend in Maple Plain, Minn. The conference tournament tees off Friday morning at the Windsong Farm Golf Club and will continue through Sunday afternoon.
With NCAA regional play and the NCAA Championship looming pending the outcome of this weekend’s tournament, the Badgers find themselves anxious to compete in their biggest tournament of the season.
Sorenson, Elsen impress
“We’ve had six freshmen in and out of the lineup,” UW head coach Jim Schuman said at his Monday press conference. “We travel with five, count four, and Jordan Elsen is our lone senior. So it’s been a learning year for a lot of us, and it’s been exciting.”
Among those six freshmen are Michael Sorenson and Anthony Aicher, who have participated in every event this season. Jordan Elsen, the only senior on the team, is the only other Badger to have done the same. Last week, Sorenson finished tied for 11th at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., an achievement Schuman was sure to make note of.
Elsen, meanwhile, will provide a bulk of UW’s veteran leadership. The Kenosha, Wis. native finished a career-best third place at last week’s Crooked Stick Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind. as UW finished eighth. Elsen finished with an even par total of 213 to highlight the weekend, providing the Badgers with momentum that Schuman hopes will carry over to what could be Elsen’s final tournament with UW.
“You know, I know for the young guys, it means quite a bit to them to have Jordan Elsen go out on a high note,” Schuman said. “Whether that puts added pressure on there, you know, we try to, maybe try to tame that a bit, but there’s no question that I think Jordan has done a fantastic job this year traveling with four freshmen.”
Freshmen to be challenged
Outside of Elsen, the Badgers’ youth will be on display this weekend, and Schuman looks forward to the challenge his freshmen will face.
“They all have played in very high profile individual tournaments, and they go and they play whether it’s an AGGA event or whatever it might be,” Schuman said of UW’s freshmen. “But what they haven’t experienced is what their role is on the team. So, you know, [Aicher], for example, is not probably the longest striker of the golf ball on our team, but has an outstanding short game. So the way he would attack this golf course would be different than a Mike Sorenson, who hits it quite long and quite high.”
Also affected by the Badgers’ youth are Schuman’s expectations. While UW’s head coach maintained that he always holds high expectations for Wisconsin athletes, Schuman did address the obvious lack of experience his freshmen will have to rely on this weekend.
“You can hold as many qualifyings as you want, and they’re quite competitive, but there really is no substitute for getting them out there and competing head to head with other juniors, seniors, freshmen from all over the country,” Schuman said.
“You know, it’s a bit difficult, I think, in our sport,” he added. “The trick is you’ve got to get five guys, you know, playing at the highest level all at the same time … So you’ve got to get those young guys to understand that.”