University of Wisconsin men’s golf kicked off the 2026 spring season at the Puerto Rico Classic hosted by Big Ten foe Purdue. The event lasted from Feb. 9-11, and hosted the No. 1 (Virginia), No. 4 (LSU) and No. 14 (Oklahoma) ranked men’s golf programs in the country, just to name a few.
Puerto Rico did not serve as the opening the Badgers hoped for, as they started slow and finished low, placing 14th out of 15 programs in the field.
But, in his first start in the lineup since 2024, sophomore Jason Shwartz shined. Shwartz placed 14th amongst all players in the field.
The rest of the Badgers lineup consisted of seniors Spencer Turtz and Jacob Beckman along with sophomore William Harned and junior James Boustead. Sophomore Charles Erlandson also competed in the tournament as an individual.
Shwartz was unbelievable in opening the tournament, rolling in six birdies through his first nine holes, including a stretch of four consecutive birdies. His opening round of 68, four-under par, had him in 17th after day one.
But, no other Badgers were able to start hot. The seniors, Turtz and Beckman, couldn’t quite get it going in round one. While they holed three and four birdies respectively, they only shot even par and one-over par to open the tournament, placing them outside the top 40.
Harned was the last Badger to score at even par. His round included two bogeys in his last few holes to finish his first round. Boustead rolled in two birdies, but finished his opening round four-over par, which was scratched.
Competing as an individual, Erlandson had the second best opening round amongst all Badgers at even par. He opened one-over par early in his round, but fought back with two birdies in response.
Wisconsin, as a team, finished day one at three-under, placing them in 13th out of 15 teams in the field. With so many teams going low — and with eight of the 15 teams in the field being ranked in the top 50 in the country — the Badgers needed a push in round two.
A push is not what they got.
While they improved to eight-under as a team, eight-under was the 5th worst team performance of the day, the best being No. 4 LSU shooting sixteen-under par.
It was Boustead who did the heavy lifting in round two, as he holed five birdies in a bogey-less round of five-under par. Shwartz continued his strong play with a round of two-under par – aided by an eagle. Turtz also went two-under with his three birdies and one bogey.
Beckman was the last to score with his round of one-over, while Harned was scratched after his tough round of five-over par, which came mostly from his stretch of seven-over par through his last nine holes. Erlandson went bogey-less with an eagle and a birdie as an individual, and the Badgers stayed put at 13th as a team.
But, the third and final round dropped the Badgers to fourteenth, as they shot four-over as a team, the second worst team score of the day, only ahead of North Florida.
Similar to round one, Shwartz dominated with his five birdie, three-under final round. He climbed an additional eight spots in his final round, finishing 14th for the week.
Beckman was the only other Badger to move up the leaderboard in round three, moving up to a finish of 71st after his final round of one-over.
Turtz fell 11 spots, finishing 60th after his two birdie round of two-over par. Harned was the last to score again, after he shot four-over par and finished in 82nd. Boustead was scratched after shooting five-over in his final. He fell 23 spots into a 75th place finish.
The individual, Erlandson, shot one-over in his final round, notching the second best finish of all Badgers this week at 48th with a three round score of two-under par.
The Badgers will look to build some momentum in three weeks at the Shcenkel Invitational, a yearly tournament the Badgers participate in. Hopefully, the familiar territory will provide an opportunity for Wisconsin to have a bounce-back week, and a chance for Shwartz to continue his good form.
