Purdue Set to Host Boilermaker Invitational

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With weather expected to move in Sunday, the Purdue Men's Golf Invitational will be moved up a day, now being contested Friday afternoon and Saturday.
 
Purdue will welcome 12 other teams to Ackerman-Allen Golf Course with the teams playing 18 holes on Friday afternoon and then 36 holes on Saturday. Action gets underway at 2 p.m. ET (shotgun start) and then at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday (shotgun start).
 
The event is the final regular-season tournament for the Boilermakers, welcoming four other teams ranked in the top 75 to West Lafayette. The Boilermakers are looking for their first team title since 2011, while another team in the field, Kent State, was the 2021 champion. No. 11-ranked Oklahoma is making their fourth appearance in the event, finishing third in 2019. The Sooners reached match play as the No. 2 seed, at the NCAA Championships a year ago, losing to eventual runner-up Arizona State in the quarterfinals.
 
THE FIELD (Golfstat Rankings / as of March 24, 2023)
11           Oklahoma
38           Purdue
72           Kent State
73           Wisconsin
75           Rutgers
111         Illinois State
145         Ball State
159         Western Kentucky
176         Butler
181         Southern Illinois
190         Loyola Chicago
217         Eastern Michigan
244         IUPUI
 
LAST TIME OUT
Purdue is coming off an eighth-place showing at the Calusa Cup – a tournament that featured four of the top-five ranked teams in the country. The Boilermakers were led by Herman Sekne with a T-20th finish, while Kent Hsiao placed tied for 22nd.   
 
TEAM NOTES

• Purdue has finished in the top five of five of its eight tournaments played this season. Purdue is on track to make NCAA Regionals for the eighth time in nine regionals under head coach Rob Bradley. The Boilermakers are comfortably in the NCAA Regional field right now, at 38th nationally in the Golfstat national rankings.
• Purdue's best team round average is the final round, over four shots better than the second round and five shots better than round one.
• Six different players have shot a round in the 60s this season.
• Just 10 of Purdue's 23 rounds have been even- or under par this year, with just two rounds 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 sixth time after finishing 3rd at the Hootie at Bulls Bay. His six weekly awards are tied for the fifth most in Big Ten history.
  • Ranks fifth in the International rankings for the elite Arnold Palmer Cup.
  • Recorded 11th career top-10 showing with a third-place finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay.
  • Has 33 even- or under-par rounds among his 72 career rounds played.
  • Has 10 top-10 finishes in his last 15 events dating to last season.
  • Ranks first in career stroke average by almost a full stroke (71.89). Austin Eoff is second at 72.82 strokes.
  • 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 24 career events. He is the only one with four events of 205 or better.
  • 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).
  • Third on the team in third-round scoring (71.43).
  • 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.
• Nels Surtani / Junior / Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Has played in eight events this season, owning a 72.91 stroke average, sharing the team lead with 11 rounds of even-par or better.
  • Played the final 36 holes in the Hootie at Bulls Bay in 6-under par 138 (70-68), finishing tied for 30th after a tough first round.
  • Owns three top-20 showings in his seven events, with a T-7th finish at Inverness.
  • Second on the team with three rounds in the 60s.
• Andrew Farraye / Senior / St. Augustine, Florida
  • Has played in six events this season, owning a 73.29 stroke average with six 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
  • Recorded his second career top-10 finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay, posting a T-6th showing with a career-best score of 205 (-11).
  • Marked his first top-10 finish since the first event of his freshman season in Sept. 2019 Finished as the runner-up at the Island Resort Intercollegiate.
  • Ranks 14th on Purdue's career stroke average chart (73.73).
  • Recorded back-to-back top-20 showings to start the season at the Badger Invitational (T-16) and Inverness Intercollegiate (T-15).

 
WEATHER FORECAST
Friday: Mostly sunny, 79 degrees, Calm winds  
Saturday: Mostly sunny, 80 degrees, SSW winds 5-15 MPH.

LIVE SCORING
Will be available on Golfstat.com.