Feb. 14, 2014
BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Purdue men's golf team played well in all five matches and cruised to a 4-0-1 victory over Minnesota in the Big Ten Match Play Championship held at The Concession Golf Club.
The win moves Purdue into the semifinal round against third-seeded Northwestern. The Wildcats defeated sixth-seeded Indiana, 4-1-0, in the quarterfinals.
The other side of the bracket will pit eighth-seeded Michigan, an upset winner over No. 1 seed Illinois, and fourth-seeded Iowa.
Freshman Austin Eoff picked up right where he left off after a stellar fall campaign with a 5-and-4 victory over Tyler Lowenstein at the No. 2 slot. The two were all-square after two holes, but Eoff then won the next three holes to take a 3-up lead after five holes. He then won two of the next four holes to take a 5-up lead after nine holes and cruise to the victory after just 14 holes of play.
Enzo Perez then pushed the match margin to 2-0 with a 3-and-2 victory over Jon Trasamar at the No. 4 position. Perez would take a three-up lead after five holes, but Trasamar would trim the lead to 1-up after 11 holes. The tandem would halve the next three holes, before Perez won holes 15 and 16 to win the match 3-and-2.
Freshman Philippe Schweizer won a back-and-forth match over Jon DuToit at the No. 3 position. Schweizer led 3-up after eight holes, and 4-up after 11 holes, but DuToit trimmed the lead to 2-up after 14 holes. Schweizer birdied the Par-4 eighth hole to win the match 3-and-1.
Senior Adam Schenk won a tight match over Jose Mendez at the No. 1 position. Neither player led by more than one hole and the match was all-square for six of the 18 holes. Schenk was one-down through 16 holes, but would win the final two holes, including a clutch birdie on the group's 18th hole, on the par-four ninth to win his match.
Freshman Fernando Barco, playing in his first career competition, halved his match at No. 5 with Matt Rachey. Barco was 2-up after seven holes, but found himself 2-down after 14 holes. Barco would win three straight holes (Nos. 15 - 17) before losing the 18th hole to halve the match.
Purdue and Northwestern will square off at 8:10 AM (ET) off the No. 1 tee on Saturday morning. The two teams have seen each other at the Windon Memorial Classic on Sept. 22-23, in Chicago. Northwestern won the event, while Purdue was 15 shots back in fourth place.
The Wildcats are ranked 37th in the most-recent Golfstat national rankings, while the Boilermakers are 35th. However, Northwestern is ranked 33rd in the latest Golfweek national rankings, while Purdue is ranked 42nd.
[2] Purdue def. [7] Minnesota, 4-0-1
1) Adam Schenk (Purdue) d. Jose Mendez, 1-up
2) Austin Eoff (Purdue) d. Tyler Lowenstein, 5-and-4
3) Philippe Schweizer (Purdue) d. Jon DuToit, 3-and-1
4) Enzo Perez (Purdue) d. Jon Trasamar, 3-and-2
5) Fernando Barco (Purdue) and Matt Rachey, halved match
#BoilerUp