I’m not going to get to nearly as many men’s conference championships as I had hoped to before the regionals tee off all over the country Monday. I’ll have to settle for looking back at some of the Power 5 conferences like the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference, the Big 12 and the Pac-12 while trying to keep up with the regionals this week. But the Big Ten, I’ve got just enough time to get to the conference in which my Penn State Nittany Lions compete and, even though Penn State did not get a team bid to regionals, a couple of its players, junior Patrick Sheehan, whose scholastic career at Central Bucks East I got to chronicle, and fifth-year player Lou Olsakovsky, a western Pennsylvania guy out of Upper St. Clair, did get individual tickets to tee it up at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course for the Columbus Regional. Maybe there’s just too much golf for me to get to with this blog, but you’re never going to hear this golf nerd complain about too much golf. No such thing …
The wind howled at The Pete Dye Course at the French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind. on the first day of May, but Illinois completed its appointed rounds, capturing its seventh straight Big Ten team crown, but only by a shot over a Michigan State team that battled right to the finish.
When it comes to the Big Ten, it’s head coach Mike Small’s Fighting Illini and everybody else. But all the rest of the Big Ten can do is try to rise to the challenge and maybe at this year’s Big Ten Championship, you saw some signs that that is beginning to happen.
Illinois is the only Big Ten team in the Golfstat top 25. The Fighting Illini began the week at French Lick ranked 19th and dropped a spot to No. 20 in the aftermath of the Big Ten Championship.
But it was Michigan State, which moved up to No. 42 from No. 46 in the Golfstat rankings after its runnerup showing at French Lick, that looked like it was going to claim the Big Ten crown for the longest time.
The Spartans made a strong opening statement with a sparkling 12-under-par 276 over the 7,131-yard, par-72 Pete Dye Course in the relatively benign conditions of the first round that left them 10 shots in front of Illinois.
The Fighting Illini added a 4-over 292 in the second round to their opening round of 2-under 286, but still trailed Michigan State by one going into the final round after the Spartans had posted a second round of 13-over 301.
Then the wind came and it was Illinois that was the last team standing. It wasn’t pretty, but the Fighting Illini’s 19-over 307 was two shots better than Michigan State’s 21-over 309 and their 54-hole total of 21-over 885 was one shot better than the Spartans’ 22-over 886 total.
Both teams will represent the Big Ten in the regionals with Illinois seeded fourth in the New Haven Regional at the Yale Golf Course, a C.B. Macdonald-Seth Raynor classic, and Michigan State a seventh seed in the Bryan Regional at the Traditions Golf Club.
Somehow, Maryland is ranked 165th, but the Terrapins finished a shot behind Michigan State in third place at French Lick. After opening with a 6-over 294, Maryland added a solid 3-over 291 in the second round that left it eight shots behind the Spartans entering the final round.
The Terrapins matched the low round of the final day with their 14-over 302 for a 23-over 887 total.
No. 44 Northwestern, behind individual champion David Nyfjall, a senior from Sweden, was three shots behind Maryland in fourth place with a 26-over 887 total as the Wildcats added a 5-over 293 to their opening round of 3-over 291 before closing with a 306.
Nyfjall, you may recall, was the lone survivor of a 12-for-1 playoff in last summer’s U.S. Amateur qualifying at iconic Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh and proceeded to knock off medalist Mark Goetz in the opening round of match play.
Nyfjall closed with a gritty 3-over 75 at French Lick to edge Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart, the co-medalist as a freshman in another windswept Big Ten Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course in 2019, by a shot.
Nyfjall had opened with a 4-under 68 and matched par in the second round with a 72. His final-round 75 gave him a 1-under 215 total.
Northwestern will represent the Big Ten as an eight seed at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course, one of America’s great campus golf courses, in the Columbus Regional.
No. 98 Wisconsin was just a shot behind Northwestern in fifth place with a 27-over 891 total. The Badgers opened with a solid 4-under 284 and added a 302 in the second round before closing with a 305.
No. 25 Purdue finished three shots behind Wisconsin in sixth place with a 30-over 894 total as the Boilermakers added a 295 in the second round to their strong opening round of 1-under 287 before backing off in the final round’s difficult conditions with a 312.
Purdue earned a bid to the regionals as the Boilermakers will be seeded fifth in the Palm Beach Gardens Regional.
No. 67 Iowa was a shot behind Purdue in seventh place as the Hawkeyes bounced back from an opening round of 12-over 300 with a 5-over 293 in the second round. Then Iowa matched the low team round in the final round’s wicked winds with a 302.
No. 82 Penn State finished in eighth place, a shot behind Iowa with a 32-over 896 total. The Nittany Lions had earned four straight trips to the NCAA regionals from 2015 to 2018, but haven’t been back since.
I’ll recap Penn State’s individual results at French Lick a little later, but I’m sure head coach Greg Nye considers the wraparound 2021-2022 season as an encouraging one for his Nttany Lions even if the ultimate goal of getting a regional bid wasn’t reached.
Dumont de Chassart, a senior from Belgium and No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), led the way for Illinois as he finished a shot behind Nyfjall in second place with an even-par 216 total. He tied a career low with a scintillating opening round of 8-under 64, but cooled off with a 1-over 73 in the second round. He still held a three-stroke lead in the battle for the individual title going into the final round.
Dumont de Chassart closed with a 79 in the final round to come up just short in the battle for the individual title, but it was a critical counter for the Fighting Illini in their tense battle with Michigan State for the team title.
Piercen Hunt, a sophomore from Hartland, Kan., gave Illinois another finisher inside the top 10 as he closed with a 5-over 77 to land in the group tied for ninth place with a 5-over 221 total. Hunt had added a 75 in the second round to his opening-round 74.
Tommy Kuhl, a senior from Morton, Ill., matched Hunt for the low final round for Illinois with a 5-over 77 as he finished among the group tied for 27th place with a 9-over 225 total. Kuhl had opened with a 76 before posting a solid 1-over 73 in the second round.
Jackson Buchanan, a freshman from Dacula, Ga., ended up in the group tied for 33rd place with a 227 total as he added a solid 1-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 75 before closing with a counting 79.
Rounding out the Illinois lineup was Jerry Ji, a junior from The Netherlands and No. 96 in the WAGR who finished among the group tied for 36th place with a 228 total. Ji was solid in the first two rounds with back-to-back 1-over 73s, but struggled in the final round with an 82.
Maryland’s Dhaivat Pandya, a senior from Dayton, Ohio, and Michigan State’s August Meekhof, a sophomore from Coopersville, Mich., finished a shot behind Illinois’ Dumont de Chassart in a tie for third place in the individual standings as they each landed on 1-over 217.
Pandya was one of just two players to record a sub-par round in the wind of the final round as he closed with a 1-under 71. Pandya matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 2-over 74. Meekhof opened with a solid 4-under 68 and added a 2-over 74 in the second round before finishing up with a 75.
The other player to break par in the final round was Wisconsin’s Coalter Smith, a junior from Gross Pointe Farms, Mich. whose 1-under 71 enabled him to move up 17 spots into fifth place in the individual chase with a 2-over 218 total. Smith had opened with a 1-over 73 before adding a 74 in the second round.
Michigan’s Brendan O’Reilly, a graduate student from Hinsdale, Ill., and Smith’s Wisconsin teammate, Griffin Barela, a senior from Lakewood, Wis., were a shot behind Smith in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 3-over 219.
O’Reilly added a 1-under 71 in the second round to his opening-round 73 before closing with a 3-over 75. Barela got off to a strong start, following up a 3-under 69 by matching par in the second round with a 72. He struggled in the wind a little in the final round, finishing up with a 78.
Nobody represented Big Ten golf, Michigan State and the state of Michigan better in the last year than James Piot, the Spartans’ fifth-year player from Canton, Mich. who was so gritty in rallying to win the U.S. Amateur last summer at Oakmont.
Piot got to tee it up in the Masters last month and he’ll have a starting time in next month’s U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
He opened his last go-round in the Big Ten Championship with a sizzling 6-under 66 at French Lick. Piot struggled in the final two rounds with a pair of 77s, but still finished alone in eighth place with a 4-over 220 total.
Leading the way for Penn State was Jake Griffin, a freshman from Kensington, Md. who closed with his second consecutive 3-over 75 to get a top-10 in his first shot at the Big Ten Championship as he finished in the group tied for ninth place at 5-over 221. Griffin had opened with a solid 1-under 71.
Fifth-year player Lou Olsakovsky, who starred scholastically at Upper St. Clair, and junior Patrick Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion in 2018 as a senior at Central Bucks East, backed up Griffin with strong showings at French Lick, earning themselves individual bids to the NCAA Columbus Regional at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course.
Olsakovsky matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 2-over 74 and finished up with a 79 to end up in the group tied for 21st place with a 9-over 225 total.
Sheehan added a 1-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 74 before, like Olsakovsky, struggling in the windswept final round to a 79 that left him among the group tied for 27th place with a 10-over 226 total.
Sheehan played some really good golf last summer, finishing in a tie for second place in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and earning a trip to the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont.
Sheehan has been solid throughout the wraparound 2021-2022 season for Penn State and is very deserving of a chance to tee it up in Columbus. Sheehan has performed well on classic, old-school layouts and Ohio State’s Scarlet Course certainly fits that description.
Junior Jimmy Meyers, who helped Pittsburgh Central Catholic capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown in 2018, finished in the group tied for 36th place at 228 as he matched par in the opening round with a 72 before recording back-to-back 78s in the final two rounds.
Meyers and Sheehan were two of Pennsylvania’s best high school players in the fall of 2018 when they finished second and tied for third, respectively, behind PIAA Class AAA champion Palmer Jackson of Franklin Regional at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County. Jackson is a junior standout on a strong Notre Dame team.
Rounding out the Penn State lineup was James Allen, a sophomore from Scarsdale, N.Y. who closed with a solid 3-over 75 to finish in a tie for 58th place with a 235 total. Allen had recorded back-to-back 80s in the first two rounds.
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