After a disappointing performance last weekend in Columbus, the Wisconsin men’s golf team is looking to bounce back Monday and Tuesday at the Crooked Stick Invitational in Indianapolis.
The Badgers placed eighth out of 11 teams at the tournament, but with the combination of the tough Scarlet Course in Columbus and the youth of the team, the results were not unexpected.
Freshman Thomas Welk, who made his tournament debut at the event, noted this was the toughest course he has played at yet, due to its total length, and “firm and undulating” greens, which made it difficult to keep approach shots on the green.
“In the afternoon round we made some mistakes that we just couldn’t recover from,” head coach Jim Schuman said. “That just put us behind the eight ball, because it’s not a course you’re going to make up a ton of shots on. But there were some positive things for sure.”
Eastern Michigan University was the winning team for the weekend, followed by Penn St. and Northwestern. Penn State’s Kevin Foley finished in first place overall in the individual race with an eight-under-par 205, which earned him Big Ten Golfer of the Week.
Leading the Badgers was senior Jordan Elsen, shooting an eight over par for the tournament, good for 17th place. He also specifically mentioned the difficulty of the greens, calling them “rock hard.”
“I played pretty well, but there were definitely things to improve on,” he said. “I hit a lot of shots thin, and with the greens, the long putting and approach shots were especially difficult.”
The next stop for the Badgers is Indianapolis, at the Crooked Stick Invitational, where the going likely won’t get any easier.
“It will probably play even tougher than Ohio State did,” Schuman said. “It might give us some room off the tee if we aren’t as accurate, but the greens will be very, very tough.”
The Crooked Stick Golf Club has a bit of prestige and national recognition to it, as it played host to the 1991 PGA Championship, where John Daly was victorious. It also was the site of last year’s U.S. Senior Open, which was won by Fred Funk.
Outside of the difficulty of the course, it will prove to be a good test leading up to the Big Ten Invitational, as five of the twelve competing teams are from the Big Ten — Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue and host Indiana in addition to Wisconsin.
“The fields have been extremely strong and the courses very demanding,” Schuman said. “It’s great for our guys as far as their development, and will pay off down the road.”
With Crooked Stick this week, the Badgers begin the busiest three-week stretch of the entire season. They return home from Indianapolis Tuesday night, only to turn around and take off for Purdue Thursday to play the Boilermaker Invitational next Saturday and Sunday.
Then they travel to Minnesota for the Big Ten Championships the following Wednesday.
Although the season has not gone as well as they would have hoped up to this point, they have kept a positive outlook on the remaining season. Schuman says the team’s attitude “has been admirable all season.”
“The Big Tens is what we’re ultimately working towards as a team,” Elsen said. “If we can still go out there and put up some low numbers and have a good showing at the Big Tens, we can still qualify for Regionals.”
As the season draws closer to the end, the Badgers’ strategy in preparation will continue as it has all season long. Schuman also noted that outside of practicing on the course, many of the courses have online previews that they can study, which gives them better insight as to what they may need to focus on during the week leading up to the event.
General course layout, distances and elevations are just a few of the aspects they can learn.
“It’s really just a long process,” Welk said. “Everyone’s learned a lot about their swings, and now it’s a matter of it all coming together at the right time for us.”
