May 26, 2014
- NCAA Championship Final Stroke-Play Results
- NCAA Championship Round Three Photo Gallery
HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- The Purdue men's golf team wrapped up its first NCAA Championship since 2005 on Monday morning, finishing in 27th place with a 33-over par score of 873.
Purdue entered the third round in a 21st-place tie, but struggled Sunday afternoon and Monday morning to post a 298 in the final round. Purdue fired a 286 (+6) in the first round and a 289 (+9) in the second round for its final tally of 33-over par 873 (286-289-298).
The championship was marred by weather as competitors were greeted by heavy rain and lightning on two of the three days in drought-stricken Kansas, resulting in five weather delays and adjusted schedules. Tournament officials were forced to cancel an additional 40-player individual round today to allow all 30 teams to play 54 holes. With all the delays, the Boilermakers were typically among the first teams on the course each day and early wake-up calls before 6 a.m., were the norm.
One player that wasn't affected by the changing schedule was freshman Philippe Schweizer. The rookie from Switzerland finished the tournament in 3-over par 213 (69-72-72) to finish in the tournament's top 60. Schweizer had one hiccup on the week, a triple bogey on the 535-yard, par-4 11th hole in the second round, but otherwise had a solid tournament with eight birdies and eight bogeys. He finished round three with a 2-over par 72, and his 213 was the lowest 54-hole score in the NCAA Championship since Shiv Kapur had a 210 in the 2004 event at the Homestead Resort on Hot Springs, Virginia.
Freshman Austin Eoff wrapped up his first NCAA Championship with a 5-over par 75 to finish the tournament at 12-over par (75-72-75=222). Eoff started the day 3-over par and bogeyed his first hole to fall to 4-over on his round after eight holes. After a birdie on No. 7, he bogeyed three of the next four holes to fall to 6-over par on his round. Eoff would regroup and end his championship in style with a birdie on his final hole, the par-4 14th.
Sophomore Stuart Macdonald struggled during the third round with a 10-over par 80, but finished tied for second on the team with a 12-over par 222 (72-70-80). Macdonald could never get it going in the final round, registering three double-bogeys and six bogeys on the day.
Senior Adam Schenk ended his Purdue career with a 6-over par 76 for a 54-hole total of 226 (70-80-76). Schenk couldn't recover from a quadruple-bogey nine on the par-5 17th yesterday and played today's holes in 2-over par.
Junior Enzo Perez recorded a 5-over par 75 to end his tournament at 18-over par 228 (78-75-75). Perez was just 1-over par after a birdie on the par-4 3rd hole (ninth hole of round) and still 1-over par entering the easiest hole on the course, the par-5 7th hole. However, Perez bogeyed the hole that started a stretch of four bogeys in six holes to end his round.
The top 15 teams through 36 holes were still on the course to complete their 54 holes at time of release. The top eight teams from the 54-hole stroke play rounds will then compete in a match-play format on Tuesday and Wednesday to determine the 2014 NCAA National Champion. Stanford, Alabama, Oklahoma State and LSU were the top four teams after 36 holes.
Head coach Rob Bradley will return four starters (Schweizer, Eoff, Macdonald, Perez) as well as key reserve and rising sophomore Fernando Barco.
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