Boilermakers Finish Fourth at Season-Opening Northern Intercollegiate 

The Purdue men’s golf team struggled on the back nine of the final round and slipped to fourth in the final standings of the season-opening Northern Intercollegiate that concluded Sunday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
 
The Boilermakers shot a 14-over par 302 to finish the 54-hole event at 29-over par (293-298-302=893) to finish in fourth behind 13th-ranked Virginia (879), Winthrop (882) and Ohio State (892).
 
By comparison purposes, Purdue shot an 894 on the same course in last year’s NCAA Central Regional, where it placed third to advance to the NCAA Championship.
 
#Boil The Boilermakers shot a combined 6-over par on the front nine and were firmly entrenched in second place when they made the turn. However, Purdue struggled on the difficult back nine, combining for a 18-over par to finish in fourth place.
 
Individually, the Boilermakers got an outstanding performance by senior Ben-Marvin Egel, who was seeing his first competitive action at Purdue since the 2013 Big Ten Championship. Egel, who redshirted a year ago, finished in third place with a 1-over par 217 (74-73-70). His final round 2-under par 70 was a career-low score and his 217 was just one off a career-best 54-hole score. Nonetheless, his third-place performance was a career-best finish and his first top-10 showing since March 2012, his freshman year.
 
Egel went out in 2-under par 34 after recording four birdies on the front nine and played the back nine in even-par 36. Egel made his mark on the par-5 holes, playing the par-5’s in a combined 7-under par for the tournament, the third-best mark among the field.
 
Philippe Schweizer, who was playing as an individual, finished in an 11th-place tie at 6-over par 222 (72-74-76). Schweizer was rolling in the final round, birdieing three of the first six holes to move to 1-under par with 12 holes to play. However, he played the final five holes in 5-over par to fall out of the top 10 by one spot. His 11th-place finish was the second-best placing of his career and the best in a 54-hole tournament.
 
Junior Stuart Macdonald recorded his third top-20 finish with an 8-over par 224 (73-78-73), good for an 18th-place tie. Macdonald had a steady round, registering 15 pars, one birdie and two bogeys on the day.
 
Sophomore Austin Eoff just missed a top-20 finish, placing 21st with a 9-over par 225 (73-74-78). Eoff was having an outstanding third round at even-par through 16 holes, when he ran into disaster on the par-5 17th hole and then bogeyed the par-4 18th, which caused him to fall out of the top 20.
 
Senior Enzo Perez finished in 38th place at 15-over par 231 (76-73-82), while sophomore Fernando Barco was tied for 51st at 18-over par 234 (73-80-81).