WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue men's golf team begins its 106th season of play this weekend, when it travels to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for the Island Resort Intercollegiate at Sage Run Golf Club in Bark River, Michigan.
The Boilermakers are looking to defend their title at the event, in the first tournament of head coach Andrew Sapp’s second season in charge.
Purdue is coming off a strong 2024-25 season which saw it win three events and reach the NCAA National Championships for the second straight season. The Boilermakers begin this year looking for three straight trips to the National Championships for the first time since making 19 straight trips from 1949 to 1967.
Purdue is the only team in the field that reached the NCAA Championships last spring, but will face challenges from three other Big Ten teams in Michigan States, Michigan and Nebraska.
THE FIELD (Final 2025 Clippd Rankings)
38 - Purdue
60 - Michigan State
68 - Saint Mary’s
75 - Michigan
83 - Nebraska
91 - West Virginia
97 - UTEP
101 - Miami, Ohio
112 - UCF
123 - Illinois State
141 - Ball State
179 - South Dakota State
TEAM NOTES
• Purdue is looking for its second straight season-opening victory after winning last year’s Island Resort Intercollegiate by 13 shots. The last time Purdue won two straight season-opening tournaments came in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.
• Purdue won three tournaments last season, the most for the program since the 2015-16 campaign (3).
• Purdue has won at least one tournament in four straight seasons entering this year.
• Purdue had just four team rounds of under par in the fall last season, compared to 11 during the spring portion.
• The Boilermakers finished last season with the second-best team scoring average in school history (286.62), just 0.19 strokes behind the 2021-22 campaign.
PURDUE LINEUP
• Sam Easterbrook (Jr. / Tomworth, England)
- 2025 First-team All-Big Ten honoree.
- Led team with 71.77 stroke average and finished with nine top-20 showings in 13 events (tied for 2nd in school history).
- Won the 2025 Puerto Rico Classic.
- Posted 11 rounds in the 60s – good for second in school history.
- Has a 72.50 career stroke average – good for second in Purdue history.
• Kentaro Nanayama (Sr. / Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Posted a 73.21 average in 24 rounds a year ago with 10 of the rounds being par or better.
- Had two top-20 finishes, including a T-18 finish at the Boilermaker Invitational where he was in the top five after 36 holes.
- Won the Badger Individual to start his redshirt freshman year in Sept. 2022.
- Finished T-9 at this event a year ago, shooting 2-under par 214 (72-71-71).
- Has five career top-10 showings in 19 events.
• Supapon Amornchaichan (So. / Bangkok, Thailand)
- 2025 Honorable Mention All-American as a freshman – one of three freshmen nationally to be named to ANY All-American squad.
- Finished T-9th at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish for a Boilermaker since 1961.
- Also finished T-15 at the NCAA Auburn Regional to begin a strong postseason run.
- Placed T-15 at the Island Resort Intercollegiate a year ago, shooting 1-under par 215 (73-71-71).
- 32 of his 40 rounds as a freshman were 75 or lower, the fifth most in a season in Purdue history. All seven of his postseason rounds were 73 or better.
• Andre Zhu (R-Fr. / Richmond Hill, Ontario)
- Redshirted a year ago at the University of South Carolina, under previous Purdue head coach Rob Bradley.
- Was a standout high school golfer in Canada, earning four AJGA wins as a freshman and sophomore.
- Finished second in the 2022 Canadian Junior Amateur.
- Won medalist honors at the 2023 U.S. Open local qualifier and was a medalist in a U.S. Amateur qualifier.
• Will Harvey (Fr. / Westfield, Indiana)
- Won the 2025 Indiana High School championship by three shots, tying the record for lowest 36-hole score in state championship history.
- Finished his senior season with a 69.50 stroke average.
- Was named the Hoosier Conference Athlete of the Year.
- Named Indiana All-State three times, leading Westfield to the 2025 state title and three straight runner-up finishes (2022, 2023, 2024).
- Also a strong basketball player, named second-team All-Conference after shooting over 46 percent from 3-point range. Attended same high school as Purdue Basketball’s current All-American Braden Smith.
PREVIOUSLY AT THE ISLAND RESORT INTERCOLLEGIATE
This marks Purdue’s third appearance at the Island Resort Intercollegiate, winning the title in 2024 and finishing second in 2019. The Boilermakers won last year’s event by 13 shots over Boise State, shooting 18-under par (284-282-280=846). Purdue had no players in the top five in the medalist race, but all five players on the counting team finished in the top 25.
THE COURSE
Sage Run, ranked among Golf Digest's America's Best New Courses, meanders through beautiful Upper Peninsula hardwoods and open vistas with very dramatic views. A natural drumlin, or elongated hill or ridge formed by glacial ice long ago, is the primary feature on Sage Run. A variety of golf holes meander off of and around the hill offering a scenic variety of shots creating a fun thrill ride for golfers. The challenging combination of long holes with creative short par fours lined with fescue grasses and strategic bunkering will challenge golfers of all abilities.
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunday: Sunny, 76 degrees; light winds.
Monday: Sunny, 77 degrees; light winds.
LIVE SCORING
Will be available on scoreboard.clippd.com.