WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 40-ranked Purdue men's golf team begins its stretch run this weekend, when it resumes to action at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, South Carolina.
Action gets underway Sunday at the difficult Bulls Bay Golf Club as 15 teams descend on the South Carolina low-country. The teams will play 18 holes on three straight days, beginning Sunday and ending Tuesday.
The Boilermakers enter the event as the top-ranked team in the field (40), but will be among 11, top-100 teams looking to be called Hootie at Bulls Bay champions. Purdue is 6-4-0 against teams in the field, having seen South Carolina (2-1-0), East Tennessee State (1-1-0), College of Charleston (1-0-0), VCU (1-0-0), West Virginia (1-0-0) and Wisconsin (0-2-0) previously.
THE FIELD (Golfstat Rankings / as of March 24, 2023)
40 Purdue
41 East Tennessee State
47 Missouri
51 South Carolina
55 New Mexico
59 North Carolina State
61 Furman
62 Kent State
70 Wisconsin
89 Kentucky
90 VCU
121 West Virginia
125 Virginia Tech
158 College of Charleston
262 Eastern Kentucky
LAST TIME OUT
Playing over a month ago, Purdue couldn't get it going until the third round at the Puerto Rico Classic, finishing 10th in the elite field at 7-under par 857 (289-288-280). The Boilermakers had its five players finish between 28th and 54th, led by Herman Sekne at 3-under par 213 (28th) and Peyton Snoeberger (34th) and Kent Hsiao (34th) at 2-under par 214. Hsiao was competing in his first tournament on the counting team.
TEAM NOTES
PURDUE LINEUP
THE COURSE
A private enclave set against the Atlantic Ocean and its tidal salt marshes, Bulls Bay personifies the vision of its owner: Joe Rice, and the imagination of its artistic designer, the late Mike Strantz. An accomplished professional artist as well as golf architect, Strantz transformed a once flat stretch of Lowcountry coastline into a landscape reminiscent of the great links courses of Scotland and Ireland.
Roughly two million cubic yards of earth were moved to reshape the site. And while other courses, especially modern courses, have required as much earth moving, few, if any, architects have transformed a site with such dramatic results.
HOOTIE AT BULLS BAY HISTORY
Earning the tournament name as former Hootie and the Blowfish lead-singer, Darius Rucker, helps put on this tournament, the singer is a founding member of the Bulls Bay Golf Club and remains his favorite course to play. Since its inception, Rucker put on concerts for the teams, but since CoVid, that has now been replaced by a rodeo. The winning team receives a custom-made guitar from Rucker.
This marks Purdue's fifth appearance in the Hootie at Bulls Bay, having finished T-7th, 11th, 11th and 12th in its previous four appearances. Herman Sekne leads the Purdue contingent with a seventh-place finish a year ago, shooting a 6-under par 210 (70-71-69).
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunday: Mostly sunny, afternoon thunderstorms, 79 degrees, SSW winds 5-10 MPH.
Monday: Thunderstorms, 73 degrees, SW winds 5-10 MPH.
Tuesday: Rain / Thunder, 72 degrees, W winds 5-10 MPH.
LIVE SCORING
Will be available on Golfstat.com.
Action gets underway Sunday at the difficult Bulls Bay Golf Club as 15 teams descend on the South Carolina low-country. The teams will play 18 holes on three straight days, beginning Sunday and ending Tuesday.
The Boilermakers enter the event as the top-ranked team in the field (40), but will be among 11, top-100 teams looking to be called Hootie at Bulls Bay champions. Purdue is 6-4-0 against teams in the field, having seen South Carolina (2-1-0), East Tennessee State (1-1-0), College of Charleston (1-0-0), VCU (1-0-0), West Virginia (1-0-0) and Wisconsin (0-2-0) previously.
THE FIELD (Golfstat Rankings / as of March 24, 2023)
40 Purdue
41 East Tennessee State
47 Missouri
51 South Carolina
55 New Mexico
59 North Carolina State
61 Furman
62 Kent State
70 Wisconsin
89 Kentucky
90 VCU
121 West Virginia
125 Virginia Tech
158 College of Charleston
262 Eastern Kentucky
LAST TIME OUT
Playing over a month ago, Purdue couldn't get it going until the third round at the Puerto Rico Classic, finishing 10th in the elite field at 7-under par 857 (289-288-280). The Boilermakers had its five players finish between 28th and 54th, led by Herman Sekne at 3-under par 213 (28th) and Peyton Snoeberger (34th) and Kent Hsiao (34th) at 2-under par 214. Hsiao was competing in his first tournament on the counting team.
TEAM NOTES
- Purdue has finished in the top five of four of its six tournaments played this season. Purdue is on track to make NCAA Regionals for the eighth time in nine regionals under head coach Rob Bradley.
- Purdue's best team round average is the final round, almost three shots better than the second round and four shots better than round one.
- Six different players have shot a round in the 60s this season.
- Just six of Purdue's 17 rounds have been even- or under par this year, with just one round in the 270s. A year ago, Purdue had 17 of its 30 rounds at even- or under-par.
PURDUE LINEUP
- Herman Sekne / Junior / Oslo, Norway
- Named Big Ten Golfer of the Week for the fifth time after finishing 2nd at the Purdue Fall Invitational.
- Recorded 10th career top-10 showing with his finish at Isleworth.
- Has 30 even- or under-par rounds among his 66 career rounds played.
- Has nine top-10 finishes in his last 13 events dating to last season.
- Ranks first in career stroke average by almost a full stroke (72.00). Austin Eoff is second at 72.82 strokes.
- Since the start of last year, Sekne is a cumulative 26-under par (71.02 strokes per round; 3,196 strokes – 45 rounds).
- Won the Rich Harvest Farms Intercollegiate and Boilermaker Fall Invitational in back-to-back tournaments as a sophomore, the latter by a whopping seven shots.
- One-of-two golfers (Cole Bradley) to have three career tournaments of 205 or better. He's played in 18 career events.
- Finished T-16th at the elite World Amateur Team Championship in early September, helping Norway to a fourth-place team finish.
- Played in the elite Jones Cup Invitational during the winter, finishing 14th.
- Has risen to 57th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and 31st in the NCAA individual rankings.
- Peyton Snoeberger / Senior / Williamsport, Indiana
- Finished T-12th at the Purdue Fall Invite, shooting 3-over par 219 (74-73-72).
- Leads the team in third-round scoring (70.40).
- Big final round of even-par 70 at Marquette to help Purdue to a fifth-place team finish.
- Strong performance at Inverness, finishing T-12 as an individual at 3-over par 216. It marked his third top-15 performance in his last four events (T-14 at Purdue Fall Invite; T-11 at Boilermaker Invite; T-53 at Badger Invite; T-12 at Inverness).
- Coming off an outstanding summer, where he qualified for the Round of 32 match play at the U.S. Amateur and was second at the Indiana Open.
- Placed in the top 15 at both the Purdue Fall Invitational and Boilermaker Invitational last season.
- Three of his seven rounds a year ago were even- or under-par.
- Kent Hsiao / Sophomore / Taipei, Taiwan
- Had an outstanding winter session, moving into the lineup through qualifying.
- Finished T-34th at the competitive Puerto Rico Classic, competing in his first tournament on the counting team (71-73-70=214; -2)
- Has played in two events this season, finishing tied for fourth at the Purdue Fall Individual at the Ackerman-Allen Golf Course (74-69-71=214; -2).
- Andrew Farraye / Senior / St. Augustine, Florida
- Has played in five events this season, owning a 73.71 stroke average with three rounds of par or better.
- Worked his way back into the lineup in the winter qualifying.
- Owns 10 career rounds in the 60s and 10 top-20 finishes.
- Nick Dentino / Senior / Carmel, Indiana
- Started the year with back-to-back top-20 finishes for the second time in his career and first time since his freshman year, when he finished T-15 at Inverness to start the year.
- Finished tied for 16th at the season-opening Badger Invitational, shooting 2-under par 142 (74-68).
- His 68 in the second round at the Badger Invite was his lowest tournament score since the Marquette Intercollegiate as a freshman.
- Five of his 17 rounds this fall have been even- or under-par.
- Currently ranks 16th on school's career stroke average list (73.93).
THE COURSE
A private enclave set against the Atlantic Ocean and its tidal salt marshes, Bulls Bay personifies the vision of its owner: Joe Rice, and the imagination of its artistic designer, the late Mike Strantz. An accomplished professional artist as well as golf architect, Strantz transformed a once flat stretch of Lowcountry coastline into a landscape reminiscent of the great links courses of Scotland and Ireland.
Roughly two million cubic yards of earth were moved to reshape the site. And while other courses, especially modern courses, have required as much earth moving, few, if any, architects have transformed a site with such dramatic results.
HOOTIE AT BULLS BAY HISTORY
Earning the tournament name as former Hootie and the Blowfish lead-singer, Darius Rucker, helps put on this tournament, the singer is a founding member of the Bulls Bay Golf Club and remains his favorite course to play. Since its inception, Rucker put on concerts for the teams, but since CoVid, that has now been replaced by a rodeo. The winning team receives a custom-made guitar from Rucker.
This marks Purdue's fifth appearance in the Hootie at Bulls Bay, having finished T-7th, 11th, 11th and 12th in its previous four appearances. Herman Sekne leads the Purdue contingent with a seventh-place finish a year ago, shooting a 6-under par 210 (70-71-69).
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunday: Mostly sunny, afternoon thunderstorms, 79 degrees, SSW winds 5-10 MPH.
Monday: Thunderstorms, 73 degrees, SW winds 5-10 MPH.
Tuesday: Rain / Thunder, 72 degrees, W winds 5-10 MPH.
LIVE SCORING
Will be available on Golfstat.com.