The Badgers men’s golf team is two events into its spring campaign as the program continues to improve after finishing last at the 2003 Big Ten Championships. Led by Garrett Jones, who is coming off of a strong showing at the Big Red Classic in Ocala, Fla., shooting a three-round 224, the golf team is making significant strides in every event this year under new head coach Jim Schuman and his new assistant B.J. Endicott. Schuman takes over a team that is without its 2002 leader Jon Turcott, who has since taken his talents to the PGA, and returns no seniors to this year’s squad.
The team looks to continue showing signs of progress, as they will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Boilermaker Invitational April 10-12. After golfing their first two tournaments of the spring season in Florida, the Badgers will return to the Midwest to face Big Ten opposition and other regional competition at the Invite held at Purdue University.
The team should be well rested after about a month-long break since their last tournament. They will look to improve on their twelfth place finish out of a field of fifteen teams at the Big Red Classic. Jones will look to continue a strong spring that includes a fourth place finish at the season’s first event, the Emerald Coast Collegiate. Junior Brian Brodell will also look to grow on his spring season as he finished 40th with a three-round 231 at the Big Red Classic. Brodell had a 74.1 stroke average in the fall that included a tenth place finish at the Northern Invitational.
Rewey, Wis. native Garret Jones attended Iowa-Grant high school and has led the Badgers this spring after a strong fall season that included posting the second-best stroke average on the team. The true freshman had a 73.4 stroke average in the fall and his best tournament showing of the fall was a three-round 216 at the Nestle Classic. In both of the Badgers’ spring tournaments so far, Jones has led Wisconsin each time and seems to be improving with every shot.
Junior Kevin Tassistro will travel to the Boilermaker Invitational looking to regain the form that led the Badgers in the fall. The Rosemont, Ill. native had a team-best 72.8 stroke average but so far his spring has been inconsistent. After a respectable showing at the Emerald Coast Collegiate, which included a third round 75 and a sixteenth place finish, Tassistro struggled at the Big Red Classic–shooting a three-round 246.
The team’s most experienced and steady player, junior Brian Brodell, will look to continue his respectable career at UW. Leading Wisconsin at last year’s Big Ten Championship with a four-round 298 and finishing thirty-fifth, Brodell and fellow juniors Tassistro and Dylan Esterling will look to provide leadership to the inexperienced and youthful team.
T.J. Blakemore and Ryan Conn also participated in the Big Red Classic and are expected to compete for the Badgers at the Boilermaker Invitational. After heading to West Lafayette, Ind., the golf team will continue its season at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for the Kepler Invitational April 17-18 and at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. for the Fossum Invitational, before heading into the Big Ten Championship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Badger golfers are showing major signs of progression this season, as the future of the Schuman era looks bright. With the emergence of the squad’s underclassmen and prep standouts Charlie Delsman of Hartland and Jeff Kaiser of Onalaska signing letters of intent to play for UW, the program appears to be heading in the right direction.
