NCAA Round 3 Results / Round 3 Photo Gallery
EUGENE, Ore. -- The Purdue men's golf team recorded its best round of the NCAA Golf Championships and moved up one spot to 29th following its final round of the season.
The Boilermakers shot a 14-over par 294 to leapfrog UAB into 29th place with a 54-hole total of 58-over par 898 (299-305-294). During today's final round, the Boilermakers defeated Alabama, UAB, San Diego State and the nation's top-ranked team, Stanford.
"This weekend obviously wasn't what we wanted, but it was nice to play our best round today. I thought our guys showed a lot of fight and resolve," head coach Rob Bradley said. "It was a disappointing end to such a good season, but I really like the direction the program is heading. We need to do a better job late in the season of getting ready to play, but I am really excited about where this program is going. We are only going to keep getting better with more experiences like this."
The Boilermakers were led in the third round by junior Fernando Barco, who recorded Purdue's low round of the tournament with a 1-over par 71. He finished the event in a team-low 14-over par 224 (73-80-71). Barco was 2-over par through his first nine holes, but he quickly got to even par with birdies on his 10th and 13th holes, before a bogey on his 16th hole dropped him to 1-over par.
In the final round of three NCAA competitions, Barco is averaging 69.67 strokes per round and is a combined 4-under par (2015 regionals, 2016 regionals, 2016 championships).
Junior Austin Eoff also recorded his best round of the tournament with a 3-over par 73 to finish his 54 holes in 18-over par 228 (78-77-73). Eoff had a whirlwind third round, playing his first nine holes in 3-over par. He then went birdie-double bogey-bogey-birdie during his first four holes of his back nine before recording birdies on his 16th and 17th hole. A bogey on his 18th hole dropped him to 3-over par for his round.
Sophomore Brian Carlson closed out his first NCAA Championships with a 4-over par 74 and finished his 54 holes in 16-over par 226 (76-76-74). Carlson was 2-under par through nine holes, before playing the next four holes in 5-over par to drop him back off the pace.
Senior Stuart Macdonald closed out his career with a 6-over par 76 and finished with a 16-over par 226 (72-78-76) in his final collegiate event. Macdonald played each nine in 3-over par and finished the event with 10 birdies, the 13th most in the field.
Freshman Jarle Volden finished his first NCAA Championships in 20-over par 230 (78-74-78).
"I'm really going to miss Stuart Macdonald," Bradley said. "He gave everything he had for Purdue and his team and he showed great improvement over the last three years.
"We have a great group of guys in our program that worked very hard on the course and in the classroom," Bradley added. "I'm really proud of this group regardless of the way we finished, but we need to take the next step as a program. We have a group that can do that."
Purdue will return four regulars off this year's squad for the 2016-17 season, in addition to welcoming a highly-regarded recruiting class.
Purdue Wraps Up NCAA Championships
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