The Badgers’ men’s golf team opened the spring tournament season in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, at the Puerto Rico Classic at the Grand Reserve Golf Club. This tournament was hosted by No. 51. Purdue. The field also included several other ranked teams, including No. 1 Ole Miss, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 8 LSU and No. 17 South Carolina.
The Badgers struggled in their first invitational since the Fallen Oak Invitational in October. They finished round one in last place, round two in second-to-last place and after the final round, they concluded the tournament in last place. To be fair to all players, it was reported that a virus plagued the field, especially affecting No. 1 Ole Miss, who went on to finish in second place.
Wisconsin shot a combined 17 over par, whereas second-to-last place Ohio State shot nine over par. Only three of the 15 universities that competed in this event shot over par. The winner, Purdue, shot a combined 39 under par, leaving Wisconsin 56 shots behind the leader.
But, this is just the first of several spring events, leaving the Badgers with plenty of time to bounce back. Their next event is in a month at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Thomasville, Georgia.
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Scoring is a little weird in men’s golf, but here is how it generally works — this was a stroke play tournament, so the team score was based on the sum of how many strokes each member posted per round.
But this tournament allowed “scratches,” meaning that, though six golfers represented Wisconsin in the tournament, only four scores were counted toward the total score per round. Essentially, any player could have a bad round without it counting against the team.
Out of the 15 universities in this loaded field, 89 golfers hit the links. Six of those golfers represented the University of Wisconsin. This included freshman William Harned, who has only played in three career events but has already carded a top-two finish with seven under par at the Badger Invitational back in October. Harned opened the spring season with a three-round score of one over, finishing top 55, the best three-round finish out of all Badgers in the field.
Fellow freshman Charles Erlandson struggled, shooting 14 over par and coming in second-to-last place out of all golfers and last for all Badgers in the field. His best finish, a top 36 at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate, was the same tournament where he made his collegiate debut. This was the fourth event of his collegiate career.
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Sophomore James Boustead finished 13 over par and 85th overall. Boustead carded two, back-to-back, top-20 finishes in fall 2023, first at the Frank Wrigglesworth Invitational and then at the Badger Invitational.
But, in all three events he has played in this year he has finished in the bottom 10. He is still fighting to card his first under par, 18-hole score of his collegiate career, with his career-low 18-hole score being a 74, two over par.
There was also junior Jacob Beckman, who finished five over par, finishing top 68. Beckman didn’t compete his sophomore year, redshirting, but then had a breakout season last year to make up for it, posting career-best scores in 18 holes shooting a 66, 36 holes shooting a 138 and 54 holes shooting a 212. He also improved his career stroke average by two, lowering it to 73.5. For the cherry on top, he earned Academic All-Big Ten Honors for the 2023-24 season.
Senior Graham Moody also played, shooting seven over par and finishing top 74. In the fall season earlier this year, he had finished top 25 in both the Purdue Fall Invitational and the Badger Invitational. Fellow senior Evan Myers tied Moody with a seven-over, top 74 finish.
Myers played his first four years, including a redshirt year, at Texas A&M, transferring to Wisconsin for the 2024-25 season, his last season. He’s struggled to really break through so far, with his best finish as a Badger being a top 27 finish at the Purdue Fall Invitational this past fall.