I mentioned in my post last week on the inaugural women’s Big Ten Match Play that the conference was certainly not one of acknowledged golf powers on the NCAA Division I scene.
You could probably make the same point when it comes to the men. With the notable exception of Illinois, which has won the team crown in the Big Ten Championship 11 of the last 12 springs, the rest of the conference isn’t much of a player on the national scene.
But like their female counterparts, the Big Ten men’s programs draw a ton of talented players from every corner of the world. Part of the attraction is the fact that all the schools are recognized as quality academic destinations. No, not Ivy League, but pretty darn close in a lot of ways and with an atmosphere that considers athletics part of the overall academic experience, not something looked at almost with disdain.
I’m sure there were a lot of people in golf circles wondering how in the heck some Michigan State kid, one James Piot of Canton, Mich., got himself in the U.S. Amateur final last summer at one of America’s most iconic courses, the terrifically hard yet undeniably fair Henry Fownes design at Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh.
But there Piot was rallying on the back nine of the scheduled 36-hole final to pull out a 2 and 1 victory over North Carolina’s Austin Greaser and become the first Michigander to have his name inscribed on the Havemeyer Trophy in the whole 121-year history of the world’s most important amateur championship.
So not only was the entire state of Michigan rooting for the guy, I suspect a lot of Big Ten players, past and current, had to be pulling for Piot, too. Yes, they play golf in the Big Ten and just go ahead and check out the name of that Michigan State guy on the trophy if you don’t believe it.
Even with Piot, No. 60 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) going 3-0, the Spartans fell, 3-2, to Indiana in the final of the Big Ten Match Play, which wrapped up on a chilly, windy Saturday at the Hammock Beach Ocean Course on Florida’s West Coast in Palm Coast, Fla.
As with the women earlier in the week, though, the Big Ten Match Play was the perfect opportunity to escape a winter that turned particularly nasty, particularly in Big Ten country, last week and compete on an actual golf course.
The Big Ten Match Play fell in the middle of what, hopefully, will be college golf’s first complete season in three years. The wraparound 2019-2020 season came to a sudden half with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020 and the wraparound 2020-’21 season did not include, for many teams, including all the Big Ten teams, the fall portion of the season as the pandemic continued to confound university communities around the country.
The Big Ten Match Play included 11 of the conference’s 14 teams with six teams matching up in a play-in round Friday morning followed by the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. Consolation brackets gave every team a chance to play three or four matches.
Purdue was the highest-ranked team by Golfstat coming off the midseason pause at No. 22. Northwestern was No. 28, Michigan State was No. 31 and Indiana was No. 33. It was the second straight year the Hoosiers emerged with the title in the Big Ten Match Play.
Followers of this blog are aware that Penn State is a team I pay a little extra attention to. I’m a Penn State graduate for one, but more importantly, head coach Greg Nye has been pretty good at recruiting a lot of the top scholastic players in Pennsylvania, so following the Nittany Lions has become a natural outgrowth of my coverage of the junior and high school scenes in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania.
I’m a regular at the PIAA Championships every fall at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, so I’m always interested to follow the kids I see there when they move on to college.
Indiana and Penn State, ranked 78th, were both seeded into the quarterfinals and the Hoosiers’ first step toward what eventually would be the title came in a 3.5-1.5 win over the Nittany Lions in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
Penn State finished with three draws to account for all of its points, so the Lions played Indiana pretty tough in their first competitive salvo of the spring portion of the season.
One of the recent high school standouts I’ve probably seen play the most, junior Patrick Sheehan, the 2018 District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East, was the leadoff hitter for Penn State and battled Drew Salyers, a sophomore from Howard, Ohio, to a draw.
Sheehan had a tremendous summer in 2021, highlighted by his tie for second place in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. He was the overnight leader after the first two rounds, fell back in the final round, but battled back and had a share of the lead on the final hole before Carlisle’s John Peters made an unlikely eagle by holing out an 8-iron from 193 yards away on the East Course’s iconic finishing hole.
Sheehan displayed some match-play chops when he reached the final of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship at Sewickley Heights Golf Club last summer before falling to Notre Dame junior Palmer Jackson, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Franklin Regional.
Sheehan lost two other matches at Hammock Beach, but he has emerged as Penn State’s best player and I think he’ll contend almost everywhere he tees it up this spring.
Indiana got a pair of outright wins against Penn State with Mitch Davis, a senior from Valparaiso, Ind., claiming a 3 and 1 victory over graduate student Lou Olsakovsky, an Upper St. Clair product, and Ethan Shepherd, a graduate student from Greenwood, Ind., earning a 4 and 2 verdict over freshman Morgan Lofland, a two-time Central League co-champion at Conestoga.
Davis would go a perfect 3-0 in the Hoosiers’ run to the title.
Lofland, winner of the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course last summer, got a couple of opportunities in the Penn State lineup last fall and showed he belongs at the college level. I think he will be battling all spring to get himself into Nye’s first five.
Junior Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA team champion and the runnerup to Jackson in the individual chase (Sheehan finished in a tie for third place), picked up a half-point for Penn State as he was deadlocked with Indiana junior Noah Gillard, another Greenwood, Ind. guy.
James Allen, a sophomore from Scarsdale, N.Y., also earned a half-point for the Nittany Lions with a draw with Indiana’s Clay Merchent, a sophomore from Noblesville, Ind.
Indiana’s victory over Penn State earned it a date in Saturday morning’s semifinals with Purdue, which had rolled to a 4-1 decision over No. 102 Rutgers in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
Indiana got a pair of wins and a pair of ties to knock off the Boilermakers, its cross-state rival, 3-2.
The highlight was Davis’ 7 and 5 victory over Purdue’s Cole Bradley, a senior home boy from West Lafayette, Ind. Bradley, the son of Purdue head coach Rob Bradley, birdied five of his last seven holes at The Sagamore Club to storm to the individual title in the NCAA Noblesville Regional last spring and earn an individual berth in the NCAA Championship at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Gillard accounted for another full point for the Hoosiers with a 3 and 2 victory over Nick Dentino, a junior from Carmel, Ind.
Salyers battled Joe Weiler, a senior from Bloomington, Ind., to a draw and Shepherd picked up an extra half-point for the Hoosiers as he deadlocked with Luke Prall, a sophomore from Carmel, Ind. Weiler finished in a tie for second place in last spring’s Big Ten Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind.
Andrew Farraye, a senior from St. Augustine, Fla., earned a full point for the ’Boilers with a 6 and 5 decision over Merchent.
The biggest upset of Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals was the 3-2 victory registered by No. 91 Iowa over Northwestern.
It might not be that big of an upset if you look back to last spring’s conference championship at Crooked Stick when the Hawkeyes chased Illinois the whole weekend, finishing just a shot behind the Fighting Illini in second place.
The victory over Northwestern at Hammock Beach earned Iowa a date with Michigan State in the semifinals and the Spartans, who opened with a 4-1 victory over No. 87 Wisconsin in quarterfinals, rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Hawkeyes.
Piot, match-play tested at the highest levels, pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Ronan Kleu, a junior from Switzerland. Piot finished in a tie for sixth place at Crooked Stick and, like Purdue’s Bradley, punched his ticket to the NCAA Championship by finishing in a tie for fourth in the individual chase at the Kingston Springs Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee.
Bradley Smithson, a junior from Cedar Rapids, Mich., also picked up a nice win for the Spartans with a 2 and 1 decision over Mac McClear, a junior from Hinsdale, Ill. who was the Big Ten’s individual champion last spring at Crooked Stick.
Michigan State also got full points from Austin McCulloch, a freshman from Canada who claimed a 5 and 4 win over Gonzalo Leal Montero, a senior from Spain, and August Meekhof, a sophomore from Coopersville, Mich. who claimed a 3 and 2 decision over Callum Macfie, a sophomore from England.
Iowa’s lone point came from Garrett Tighe, a junior from Algonquin, Ill. who cruised to a 5 and 3 decision over Troy Taylor II, a senior from Westerville, Ohio.
Indiana’s Davis picked up the clinching point In the Hoosiers’ 3-2 victory over Michigan State in the championship match.
Locked in a tight battle with the Spartans’ McCulloch, Davis battled to halves in the four holes heading to the closing hole at Hamock Beach’s Ocean Course to keep the match even. Davis then won the 18th hole for a 1-up victory.
Gillard capped a 2-0 Saturday with a 3 and 2 decision over Sparty’s Smithson and Merchent picked up the other full point for the Hoosiers with a 4 and 2 verdict over Taylor.
Piot was Piot, rolling to a 6 and 5 victory over Salyers and Meekhof picked up another full point for Michigan State with a 4 and 2 win over Shepherd.
Penn State hooked up with Rutgers in an interesting consolation-bracket match Saturday afternoon with the Red Knights pulling out a 3-2 victory. Rutgers had opened with a 3-2 victory over No. 103 Nebraska in Friday’s play-in round before falling to Purdue in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. Rutgers suffered a 4-1 setback at the hands of No. 87 Wisconsin in a consolation-bracket match Saturday morning.
Luke Wells, a junior from Springfield, Ohio, earned a 3 and 1 victory over Sheehan to get Rutgers started against Penn State.
The Red Knights picked up two more full points as Xavier Marcoux, a junior from Concord, Mass., rolled to a 5 and 4 verdict over Meyers, and Rhett Sellers, a sophomore from Longview, Texas, cruised past Lofland, also by a 5 and margin. Marcoux’s win gave him a 3-1 record for the two days.
Penn State got its two points from Allen, who captured a 5 and 4 victory over Weston Jones, a freshman from Sudbury, Mass., and from Jake Griffin, a freshman from Kensington, Md. who claimed a 2 and 1 verdict over Cade Anderson, a freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz.
Penn State caught a tough draw in the consolation bracket Saturday morning as the Nittany Lions took on Northwestern, still smarting from its loss to Iowa in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
Northwestern claimed a 3-2 victory, but Penn State’s Allen and Griffin each kicked off a really nice 2-0 day for the Nittany Lions with wins.
Allen rolled to a 6 and 5 victory over the Wildcats’ John Driscoll III, a junior from Lake Mary, Fla. who was one of the players tied for sixth place along with Piot in last spring’s Big Ten Championship at Crooked Stick. Griffin pulled out a 3 and 1 decision over James Imai, a junior from Brookline, Mass.
Varun Chopra, a graduate student from Champaign, Ill., cruised to a 6 and 4 win over Sheehan at the top of the lineup. The Wildcats also got full points from David Nyfjall, a senior from Sweden who earned a 4 and 3 verdict over Olsakovsky, and Eric McIntosh, a graduate student from Scotland who claimed a 3 and 1 decision over Meyers.
Nyfjall also made some noise in the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont last summer as he was the sole survivor of a 12-man playoff the final spot in the match-play bracket and proceeded to stun qualifying medalist Mark Goetz, a Pittsburgh-area home boy from Greensburg who has returned for a fifth year at West Virginia this season, in the opening round of match play.
Purdue and Iowa each got a piece of third place Saturday as they battled to a 2.5-2.5 deadlock.
Purdue got full points from Weiler, who edged Iowa’s Kleu, 1-up, and Dentino, who was also taken to the final hole before pulling out a 2-up decision over Leal Montero.
Farraye battled Macfie to a draw to earn a half-point for the ’Boilers. Weiler and Farraye finished with 2-0-1 records for the ’Boilers.
McClear, Iowa’s reigning Big Ten individual champion, claimed a 3 and 2 verdict over Prall and Tighe cruised to a 5 and 4 victory over Nic Hoffman, a sophomore from Lafayette, Ind., to account for the two full points for the Hawkeyes.
Northwestern finished off its stay at Hammock Beach with a 3.5-1.5 consolation-bracket victory over Wisconsin Saturday afternoon.
Chopra earned a 3 and 1 victory over Cameron Hess, a sophomore from Kenosha, Wis., McIntosh edged Griffin Barela, a sophomore from Lakewood, Colo., 2-up, and Cameron Adam, a freshman from Scotland, rolled to a 6 and 5 decision over Coalter Smith, a junior from Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. as each picked up a full point for the Wildcats.
Chris Zhang, a sophomore from Blacksburg, Va., got a half-point for Northwestern as he battled Robbie Marway, a redshirt senior from Mequon, Wis., to a draw.
Jacob Beckman, a freshman from Middleton, Wis., earned a full point for the Badgers with his 2 and 1 victory over Imai.
The final consolation-bracket match Saturday afternoon saw Minnesota capture a 3-2 victory over Maryland.
An interesting name popped up on the Maryland roster at Hammock Beach in Chris Tanabe, a fifth-year player who was the 2016 PIAA Class AA champion at Quaker Valley and was a four-year standout at Bucknell. Tanabe was an impressive winner of the 2019 Pennsylvania Amateur at Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross masterpiece in Newtown Square.
Tanabe suffered a 2-up setback at the hands of Will Grevlos, a senior from Sioux Falls, S.D. in the Terrapins’ loss to Minnesota, but Tanabe figures to be a valuable addition to the Maryland roster.
Minnesota’s other two points came from Ben Warian, a sophomore from Stillwater, Minn. who claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Dhaivat Pandya, a senior from Dayton, Ohio, and Bennett Swavely, a freshman from Hudson, Neb. who earned a 3 and 1 verdict over Maryland freshman Florian Huerlimann.
Maryland got full points from Dillon Brown, a senior from Halifax, Mass. who captured a 3 and 2 victory over Lincoln Johnson, a senior from Chaska, Minn., and Will Koras, a senior from Lutherville, Md. who cruised to a 6 and 4 decision over Harrison Arnold, a senior from England.
In another consolation-bracket match earlier Saturday, Nebraska’s Reed Malleck, a senior from York, Neb., capped a 3-0 week with a 3 and 1 victory over Minnesota’s Eduardo Galdos, a freshman from Peru, as the Cornhuskers and the Gophers battled to a 2.5-2.5 draw.
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