ALL TIED UP: Illinois State, Toledo Share Golf Title
Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear comments from Illinois State's Valentin Peugent and Parker Wisdom; Toledo's NJ Botha, Michigan's Jack O'Donnell and James Hill, and Northern Michigan's Eric Yun.
Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos
HARRIS, Mich.---The Island Resort Collegiate golf championship went down to the wire on Monday, and in the end, nothing was solved as the Toledo Rockets and Illinois State University Redbirds finished tied for first place and will share the championship trophy.
It came down to the 54th and final hole of the event, but neither Illinois State's Valentin Peugent nor Toledo's NJ Botha could break the deadlock as both shot pars on the on the par-5 18th hole. Peugent won the individual medalist championship with a 203, including a 65 on Monday's final round.
He ended up four shots clear of Botha, who ended tied with Valparaiso's Caleb VanArragon in a second place tie with three-round 207's.
“It was three good rounds and we played good,” Peugent said. “I feel kind of sad, to be honest, at the end because we tied for the lead, my team.”
Peugent knew that a birdie would give his team the championship, but he says he wasn't feeling any pressure as he walked up to the 18th hole.
“There's pressure, but I love that,” said Peugent, who is from France. “We play and practice all year for that. I was grateful to have this kind of pressure. That's one of my favorite courses that we've played so far. I had it (final putt) 12 to 15 feet, but unfortunately, I missed it.”
Still, hos three-round total of 203 was the second-lowest in Illinois State University golf history.
Botha, who fired a sizzling 66 in the second round, settled for a two-under par 70 on Monday as he finished with seven straight pars.
“I'm really happy with my performance this week,” said Botha, who's from South Africa and has a brother with him on the Redbird team. “I feel I played really well and just kept the ball in play. I'm really happy with our team performance this week. I mean, just to share the trophy, we've come very close the last couple of semesters, and I'm just happy we played well this week.”
Botha says the Sage Run course was challenging.
“It was tough out there,” he said. “The weather was nice, but we had winds up to like ten miles per hour, so some holes were playing really long. With the elevation changes and stuff like that, you had to make sure your calculations and stuff like that were perfect. But luckily, I managed to do well.”
Botha's brother, Barend, finished sixth overall with a 211, matching his brother's final round score of 70.
The University of Michigan's Ben Hoagland, who was technically not competing as Wolverine but as an individual, finished tied for fourth with South Dakota State's Matt Schaefer with three-round totals of 210, seven strokes behind Puegent.
Michigan's James Hill finished tied for 55th place with a total of 230.
“It's a tough course,” the Wolverine graduate student from Ontario, Canada, said. “It wasn't my best this week, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Another Wolverine, junior Jack O'Donnell from Massachusetts, echoed those remarks.
“I love this course. It's a good spot,” he said. “It definitely can be tricky at times, but we had good weather so it wasn't too bad. Personally, I did not play great, but our team is doing well.”
O'Donnell finished 79th but the Wolverines took third as a team, four stokes behind co-champions Toledo and Illinois State.
Illinois State's Parker Wisdom finished tied for 45th at 9-over par.
“This whole week, I feel like I left a lot of putts out there,” said Wisdom, who is a senior from Bloomington, Ill. “I hit the ball really well, but just couldn't get anything to drop. It's tough because I played so well, other than a few putts here and there. Overall, I think there's a lot of positives to take back, but I definitely left some strokes out there.”
It was also a tough time for South Dakota State freshman Bryson Mercier. The North Central High School graduate, playing on his home course, finished with a third round 85, ending tied for 69th place with a 21-over par 237.
The Northern Michigan University golf team, the only Division Two team along with 12 D-1 schools, finished in last place with a team score of 975 (79 strokes behind te co-champions). The top NMU golfer was Eric Yun, who finished 66th out of 81 golfers with a 19-over par 235.
“It was a learning experience with our new coach, Coach (Dave) Foppe,” Yun said. “We're still learning a lot from him, and we're learning in general. I thought it wasn't my best performance. I had some good shots out there, and still some shots I can take back. All in all, I feel like it was a good tournament.”
MORE QUOTES
Michigan Coach Zach Barlow: "Overall we are disappointed we couldn't close it out today but there were some positives out there too. We learned a lot about ourselves and how difficult it is to close out a tournament win. We will be back and we won't take these experiences for granted."
Toledo Coach Jeff Roope: "NJ has really been a catalyst for success. In qualifying, he led the way almost tying a course record in Round 1 at Highland Meadows shooting 64 and followed that up with a 63 at Toledo Country Club. He's always been a talented player and has matured each year on and off the course. He led the way this week for sure. His brother Barend came up big in the moment too, making three straight birdies at the end of his round to help pull us even."
Kentucky Coach Brian Craig: “We counted two 78’s in the first round and dug ourselves too deep of a hole. I am proud of the battling in the last two rounds and particularly of the leadership Garrett Wood showed. We have a couple weeks before we head to our next event at Coldstream in Cincinnati. We have much work to do and will be better next time out.”
Valparaiso Coach Dave Gring: "With this being our first tournament of the year and over a month since some of our players last competed, we will be able to focus our practices on those areas before our next tournament. Coming off his successful season last year, Caleb told me he was going to play more tournaments this past summer and really put in some quality practice time. That hard work was clearly showcased in this weekend’s tournament."
Final Team Standings
1. Illinois State 287-285-284 = 856 (-8)
Toledo 281-286-289 = 856 (-8)
3. MICHIGAN 291-282-287 = 860
4. Kentucky 299-278-287 = 864
5. North Dakota State 293-285-291 = 869
6. Miami (Ohio) 295-283-294 = 872
7. Southern Illinois 294-292-288 = 874
8. Valparaiso 301-282-296 = 879
9. Bowling Green 302-299-288 = 889
10. South Dakota State 302-295-298 = 895
11. Kentucky (B) 302-298-301 = 901
12. Green Bay 321-302-311 = 934
13. Northern Michigan 327-319-329 = 975
Top Individuals
1. Valentin Peugnet, Illinois State 72-66-65 = 203 (-13)
2. Caleb VanArragon, Valparaiso 72-66-69 = 207
NJ Botha, Toledo 68-69-70 = 207
4. BEN HOAGLAND, U-M 72-67-71 = 210*
Matthew Schaefer, SDSU 72-66-72 = 210
6. Barend Botha, Toledo 71-70-70 = 211
7. Nate Adams, NDSU 74-70-68 = 212
Garrett Wood, Kentucky 72-67-73 = 212
9. HUNTER THOMSON, U-M 72-70-71 = 213
Cameron Pero, Miami (Ohio) 74-67-72 = 213
11. WILL ANDERSON, U-M 71-71-72 = 214
Anthony Delisanti, Valparaiso 73-69-72 = 214
Felix van Dijk, Illinois State 71-74-69 = 214
