Feb. 15, 2014
BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Purdue men's golf team defeated Northwestern in the semifinals, but dropped a sudden-death decision to Michigan in the Big Ten Match Play finals in Purdue's inaugural event of the spring season.
The Boilermakers defeated the Wildcats, 4-1-0, in the days' opening match. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked higher than the Boilermakers in the Golfweek national rankings, but the Boilermakers were impressive up-and-down the lineup to earn the victory.
At the No. 1 slot, senior Adam Schenk defeated Jack Perry by a 2-and-1 score. Schenk led essentially the entire match, closing out Perry with a birdie on the par-5 17th hole.
Freshman Austin Eoff continued his strong weekend with an impressive 5-and-4 victory over Matthew Negri. Eoff took a 1-up lead on the second hole and would push the lead to 4-up after 10 holes before ending the match on the 14th hole.
At the No. 3 position, Philippe Schweizer defeated Bennett Lavin by a 3-and-1 tally. Schweizer took a lead on the first hole and never relinquished the advantage in winning his second straight match in the tournament.
Enzo Perez defeated Josh Jamieson at the No. 4 position by a 1-up score. Perez never trailed in the match eventually taking the lead on the 17th hole and holding on for the victory on the 18th hole.
Fernando Barco dropped a 4-and-3 decision to Andrew Whalen at the No. 5 slot.
In the finals against Michigan, the two teams split the five matches at 2-2-1, but the Wolverines won a sudden-death playoff by winning the first three extra holes to give the Wolverines the title.
Eoff wrapped up his dominant weekend with a 4-and-3 victory over Brett McIntosh at the No. 2 position. Eoff lost just two holes during the match and would lead 3-up after eight holes in cruising to the victory.
Schweizer dominated fellow freshman Bryce Evon at the No. 3 position to win his match 7-and-6. Schweizer won seven of the first eight holes and ended the match on the 12th hole.
Sam Fu would halve his match at the No. 5 position, rallying after being two-down through 15 holes. Fu won holes 16 and 17, then both would bogey hole No. 18 to halve the match.
Adam Schenk fell at No. 1, 3-and-2, while Enzo Perez fell 4-and-2 at the No. 4 position.
Purdue would then drop the first three sudden-death holes to finish second at the Big Ten Match Play Championships.
The Boilermakers were led all weekend by freshmen Austin Eoff and Philippe Schweizer, who both went 3-0-0 on the weekend. Eoff won his matches by scores of 5-and-4, 5-and-4 and 4-and-3.
Purdue will host the Puerto Rico Classic next weekend in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, beginning play on Sunday.
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