Purdue Places 2nd at Boiler Invite

April 16, 2017

Complete Results / Photo Gallery

BOILER NOTES
- Purdue's 283 in the final round equaled its third-lowest, 18-hole score in 41 all-time rounds at the Boilermaker Invitational.
- Purdue had two players finish in the top five at the Boilermaker Invitational for the first time since the 2007 event.
- Purdue has finished runner-up five times in 14 years at the Boilermaker Invitational, including for the second straight year.
- Purdue recorded its 11th team round this year of even or under-par scores, the third-most rounds in school history, coming in just 26 rounds.
- Austin Eoff recorded his 16th career top-10 finish and fifth career top-three finish, coming in 49 career events. He became the seventh player in Purdue history to amass 10,000 career strokes.
- Timmy Hildebrand recorded his second career top-five finish, the other coming in this year's Puerto Rico Classic.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue men's golf team put together another very strong round, but couldn't make up any ground in the standings, finishing second at the 14th annual Boilermaker Invitational held this weekend at the Kampen Course.

The Boilermakers equaled the second-best round of the day with a 5-under par 283 behind only Northwestern (9-under par 279), but only made up one shot on eventual champion and No. 11-ranked Kent State, who finished with a 1-over par 865 (285-296-284) to defeat the Boilermakers by five shots. Purdue finished the 54 holes at 6-over par 870 (294-293-283).

Northwestern was third at 10-over par 874 (301-294-279), while 16th-ranked UNLV was fourth at 11-over par 875 (291-298-286). Ohio State rounded out the top five at 21-over par 885. Kent State won its second Boilermaker Invitational, the other coming in the 2008 event.

"I thought we played pretty well this weekend, but feel we are still leaving a lot of shots out there on the course," head coach Rob Bradley said. "Austin (Eoff), Timmy (Hildebrand) and Fernando (Barco) all played very well and really carried us this weekend, but we need to get one more score. I really like this team and think our best golf is still ahead of us."

After a tough first round, Austin Eoff responded brilliantly to finish tied for third at 2-under par 214 (75-69-70). Eoff tallied his 61st and 62nd career rounds at even or under-par and recorded his 16th career top-10 finish. Eoff was 1-over par through 13 holes, before three straight birdies moved him into the top five for the tournament.

Hildebrand recorded his third top-10 finish of the year, and of his career, with a 1-under par 215 (71-75-69). Hildebrand was 1-under par on the front nine, before birdieing three of his next five holes to move to 4-under par. He would bogey No. 16 and 17, but rallied to make birdie on 18 after hitting his tee into the rough and sticking his approach to about eight feet.

His round marked his team-best 12th round of even-par or better this year (tied with Eoff).

Barco had a steady third round to help the Lima, Peru, native finish tied for seventh at 1-over par 217 (73-74-70). He recorded 14 pars, three birdies and one bogey during his round and finished the event with 39 pars, the second most among the 81 players competing. Barco went the entire weekend without a double-bogey.

Brian Carlson (75-75-76) and Jarle Volden (77-75-74) both finished tied for 42nd at 10-over par 226.

Individually, freshman Thomas Lewis had the best performance of his young career, finishing tied for 19th at 4-over par 220 (77-74-69), while Chad Phillips finished tied for 54th at 13-over par 229 (78-78-73).

Purdue's regular season is now over as the Boilermakers will leave next Wednesday for the Big Ten Championships in Baltimore from April 28 to 30.

"The Big Ten Championships course (Five Farms East GC at the Baltimore Country Club), the NCAA Regionals here (Kampen Course) and the NCAA Championships (Rich Harvest Farms) are all courses that really suit our game," said Bradley. "I am confident that we will play well over the next month. This team has the ability to make some noise, starting with the Big Ten Championships.

"For our two seniors in the lineup (Barco and Eoff), this is their last chance to really make a push and leave a mark on our program. They are playing some of the best golf of their career and I think they are really looking forward to the next month of events," added Bradley.