Boilermakers Surge to Fifth Place at Puerto Rico Classic

 
The Purdue men's golf team pieced together its best round of the year and catapulted into fifth place after 36 holes at the highly-competitive Puerto Rico Classic on Monday morning.

The Boilermakers fired the third-best round of the day with a 4-under par 284 to surge from 10th to a fifth-place tie at 6-over par 582 (298-284). Purdue is tied with defending national champion and No. 9-ranked Alabama for fifth and is just one shot behind No. 21-ranked Oklahoma (+5). Georgia leads the tournament at 15-under par 561 (280-281), while Georgia Tech is five shots back at 10-under par 566 (292-274). Clemson is third at 2-over par 578 (288-290).
 
The Boilermakers surged on the back nine today. The group played the back nine in a combined 8-under par with 13 birdies and just five bogeys. The Boilermakers played the front nine in a combined 8-over par. The 284 tied a season-best score and the 4-under par score was a season best in relation to par.

In round one, Purdue recorded just seven birdies, but tallied 20 birdies in round two.

Purdue boasts four players in the top 30, led by Stuart Macdonald at 1-over par 145 (72-73), good for a 22nd-place tie. Macdonald bogeyed his first hole of the day (No. 12), but rattled off three straight birdies and finished his day with four birdies and five bogeys en route to a 1-over par 73.

Sophomore Austin Eoff overcame a subpar first round with one of his best rounds of his career to sit in 27th place at 2-over par 146 (77-69). Eoff had a steady round with just one bogey on the day to match his season-best round of 69. It marked his eighth career round in the 60s and it was his 21st career round (out of 55 career rounds) at par or better.

Ben-Marvin Egel continued his steady play with a 1-over par 73, good for a 36-hole total of 3-over par 147 (74-73) and a 29th-place showing after two rounds. Egel had a tough stretch with four bogeys in a six-hole span midway through his round, but responded by playing the last four holes in 1-under par to finish at plus-one for his round.

Freshman Brian Carlson also turned in the best round of his career, posting a 3-under par 69 to move him to 29th place as well at 3-over par 147 (78-69). Sitting one-over for his round through 10 holes, Carlson would birdie five of the next eight holes to complete the lowest round of his career.

Enzo Perez shot a 4-over par 76 and sits in a 45th place tie at 7-over par 151 (75-76).