Tag: Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

Grace Curran wins Golfweek Midwest Collegiate in extra holes; Charlie Pilon prevails after long offseason

Grace Curran needed extra holes to get it done in the women’s division while Charlie Pilon is returning from a long break in competition.

Grace Curran misses the familiar sights of college golf. It’s hard to believe that nearly five months have passed since she looked up her name on a Golfstat leaderboard or saw a group of college bags clustered by a putting green. And yet, the atmosphere at the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate was a reminder of all those things she has missed.

Curran played four extra holes at Purdue’s Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Friday afternoon to earn a victory in the women’s division. She eventually defeated incoming Purdue freshman Jocelyn Bruch with a 4-footer for par on No. 1.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” she said of standing over that putt.

Scores: Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

Curran, who will return to Minnesota for her sophomore season, was one of two Minnesota players in what turned out to be a heavily Big Ten field. Two players from the Gophers men’s team were also in the field. Mostly, it was just nice to all be together, Curran said.

“I thought it was fun to look around and see everybody’s college bag,” she said. “It really gave us a college event feel.”

Curran and her team were in California in March when college athletics were called off. The trip overlapped their spring break, but Coach Michele Redman thought it best to head home instead of continue on their golf itinerary.

In the unexpected off-season, Curran had about at two-week dead period with no golf. Other than that, when she was playing, she was on the course instead of grinding on the range.

“You can ask any of my coaches, I can sit on the range forever,” Curran joked. “I need to work my way to the putting green.”

Curran didn’t have a problem with that part at the Kampen course, knocking in birdies at Nos. 12 and 17 – plus an eagle at No. 6 – on her way to a closing 69. Her birdie on No. 17 came right after incoming Purdue freshman Jocelyn Bruch bogeyed the 16th and eventually sent the two to the playoff.

Curran now has won two events in a row after claiming the Minnesota Women’s Match Play Championship last month. She’ll team up with fellow Gopher Emma Carpenter for the Minnesota Women’s Four-Ball Championship.

From where Charlie Pilon is sitting, an abundance of tournament starts is a completely foreign feeling. Pilon, the rising Michigan senior who walked away with a one-shot victory over Purdue’s Cole Bradley in the men’s division, was making his first competitive start this week since March.

It also came shortly after spending 10 days on vacation in Montana, without touching a club.

Pilon grew up in Wagga Wagga Australia, a rural area between Melbourne and Sydney, and doesn’t like to return home in the summers because he’s actually returning to winter.

“I want to play all the summer events available,” he said.

Rounds of 1-under 71 at Kampen book-ended a second-round 68, which Pilon fired on arguably the toughest day, when a steady rain was falling.

“Fortunately it wasn’t too windy,” he said. “Didn’t hit the ball as well as I usually would. My short game, putting and chipping, was doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

“I made some really good putts at some crucial times.”

Pilon last won a tournament at the Baylor-hosted Royal Oaks Collegiate in October 2019. He knows the Kampen course well considering that Michigan often plays in Purdue’s home event here.

Most of the time, Pilon leans on his short game. This week was just the opposite from what he remembers all those months ago.

“It was a nice change of pace to have the short game come through this week

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Kampen’s 17th is one of the most recognizable, and daunting, par 3s in college golf

The daunting and scary No. 17 on Purdue’s Kampen Course continues to wreak havoc on college golfers.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Kent State’s Josh Gilkison came to Kampen’s par-3 17th hole on Wednesday with momentum after three straight birdies.

He was poised to take the first-round lead in this week’s Golfweek Midwest Collegiate at Purdue. But after the soon-to-be senior’s tee shot ended up in the water, he settled for a double bogey and was in second place.

Move ahead to Thursday.

Indiana’s Harry Reynolds was enjoying a stellar round. Five straight birdies to start. Three more on the back nine, along with a bogey. After 16 holes, Reynolds was 7 under for the day.

He dumped his tee shot into the water.

The daunting and scary No. 17 on Purdue’s Kampen Course continues to win.

Scores: Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

It happened in 2008 during the NCAA Championships when then-Oklahoma State freshman and current PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler hit two balls in the water in the first round and walked away with a quadruple bogey. He was all but eliminated from the individual championship.

Even in 2017 when Purdue hosted an NCAA regional, No. 17 proved to be the difference in which teams advanced. And it’s still making a difference this week, producing just seven birdies from the men’s field through the first two rounds.

“It was the first mental mistake all day. I stepped into the ball too quickly and made a bad swing,” said Reynolds, who is tied for second overall with Purdue’s Cole Bradley and Michigan’s Charlie Pilon after Thursday’s 6-under-par 66.

On Wednesday, Gilkison birded each of the four par 5’s and was in a position to move to the top of the leaderboard and cap a wonderful round.

“Just a bad swing,” Gilkison recalled. “I was playing really well. I don’t know if I was trying to sneak one over toward the pin on the right, but I pushed it and it went in the water.”

Gilkison managed to par No. 17 on Thursday and despite a bogey on No. 18, took a one-shot lead into Friday’s final round. Reynolds was able to bounce back Thursday with his ninth birdie of the round on No. 18.

“If there’s anything I’m most proud of today, it was the 18th hole,” said Reynolds, who is entering his junior year with the Hoosiers. “It could’ve put a huge damper on a great round. I bailed myself out. I won’t be losing any sleep over 17.”

Neither will Pilon, who as part of a small group to have birdied the tough hole, which, through two rounds, has produced 79 scores of bogey or worse. Only two players from the women’s field have birdied No. 17.

Pilon, a native of Australia, made his birdie Wednesday after posting a bogey on No. 16, a par 5.

“I was a little flustered, a little bit agitated and I went up there – obviously the water is very daunting – and being a bit angry, I said, ‘I’m taking it straight at it,’ ” Pilon said. “I hit a great shot to about six feet and rolled the putt in.”

The water to the right has always been an intimidating presence and when the wind starts to kick up, the challenge is nearly impossible. In the first two rounds, the wind hasn’t played a big role in the scores, but No. 17 still looms large.

“It takes a lot of focus and with water up the right, it can really mess with your head a little bit,” said Reynolds, who has 11 birdies through the first two rounds. “It was brought on by myself, and it wasn’t the only bad shot I made all day, but it was at an unfortunate time. It’s such a great round otherwise and I’m pleased with the way the day went.”

When Pete Dye designed the course more than 20 years ago, he wanted the last three holes to be the toughest in college golf. It was that way in 2008 and again in 2017. Another generation is now experiencing it this week.

“It’s a great test the last two holes coming down the stretch,” Gilkison said.

Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter @carmin_jc

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Josh Gilkison, Jocelyn Bruch take the lead into final round of Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

The Kampen course played considerably longer in Thursday’s wet conditions. Rain fell for the first part of the day before the skies cleared.

Josh Gilkison is not hurting for sleep this week. When the Kent State rising senior tees off in the final group of the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate on Friday morning, it will be his third consecutive time going off last on the tee sheet.

“I like playing in the last group,” Gilkison said. “I get to sleep in.”

Gilkison assured himself a late tee time with a second-round 2-under 70 on Purdue’s Kampen course in West Lafayette, Indiana. Gilkison started his day with a birdie, added two more before the turn then played his back nine in 1 over. Even the bogey he made on the closing par 4 wasn’t enough to derail his lead.

Scores: Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

At 6 under for 36 holes, Gilkison is one ahead of Indiana’s Harry Reynolds and Michigan’s Charlie Pilon. Gilkison had an opening 68 that featured a stretch of three consecutive birdies from Nos. 14-16.

“Yesterday I obviously played pretty well, was hitting it really well, did really well on the par 5s,” he said. “It was nice to know that I’m hitting it well going into today.”

The Kampen course played considerably longer in Thursday’s wet conditions. Rain fell for the first part of the day before the skies cleared.

With a few more breaks here – cleaned-up wedge shots and chips, a few more made putts – Gilkison felt he could shoot an even lower number. The Golfweek event is his third event in the second half of the summer following the Ohio Amateur and the Northern Amateur. He broke his foot at the beginning of June and had to give it time to heal.

“I feel like I’m hitting a lot of fairways, putting myself in good positions,” he said of what was working well at the Kampen course. “My distance control has been really good, putting it well.”

In the women’s division, two players who should be plenty familiar with this layout are at the top of the leaderboard.

Purdue player Jocelyn Bruch fired a second-round 70 – the only score under par on the women’s side – to read 1 under for the tournament. She has a two-shot lead on her teammate Ashley Kozlowski.

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Morgan Goldstein makes five: Late entry ups the Iowa factor at Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

Morgan Goldstein is among five players from the University of Iowa in the women’s field for the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

Morgan Goldstein has never pulled off a competitive golf turnaround quite like the one she’s embarking on this week.

“My dad loves to do things on the spot,” Morgan said about her dad Bruce from the Las Vegas airport on Monday afternoon. Normally, this isn’t quite her speed.

Goldstein, who will return to the University of Iowa this fall as a sophomore, was supposed to be playing a women’s amateur event this week at Finkbine Golf Course, the Hawkeye’s home track in Iowa City, Iowa. She won the Midwest Junior there in 2019.

Golfweek Midwest Collegiate: Tee times and pairings

Instead, Goldstein found out Monday morning the tournament was canceled, so she started talking to a few teammates already playing this week’s Golfweek Midwest Collegiate at Purdue’s Kampen Course in Lafayette, Indiana.

“We figured out we could book a flight today, get on a plane, drive up, spend the night there tonight and then have practice round,” Goldstein said Monday of a tournament that begins Wednesday.

With so many elements of golf and life in flux because of COVID-19, Goldstein, who lives in Las Vegas, is playing anything she can get into. Her summer schedule morphed countless times. Initially, Goldstein, who just turned 19 on July 15, planned to try qualifying for the U.S. Girls’ Junior one last time (she has played it two times before in addition to two U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Balls) and also try for the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Those were to be among her only tournament starts.

Instead, Goldstein has teed it up in a couple of Cactus Tour events, a local one-day Las Vegas event as well as the Nevada Women’s Amateur. She won the latter, a 36-hole stroke play event at Reflection Bay Golf Club on July 19.

In the post-round interview for the state amateur, Goldstein noted that the grind doesn’t stop. She planned to keep on practicing for whatever kind of competition this fall season brings. Winning at Reflection Bay was a product of a recent swing change.

“My miss was a push prior to the women’s state am event and that was because I would slide my hips instead of turn my hips,” she explained. “I was working on more of a Lexi Thompson swing.”

She achieved it, firing rounds of 66-67 for an eight-shot victory. Lately, Goldstein has been working on the new move in the morning, then waiting for the temperature to fall in the afternoon when she would return to the course with her dad and play.

With the addition of Goldstein, the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate field now includes five Iowa players. Teammates Lilly Gentzkow, Dana Lerner, Manuela Lizarazu and Sarah Overton are also playing.

Iowa head women’s golf coach Megan Menzel is just happy to see her players competing in an uncertain year.

“You harp on that all summer,” she said of staying competitively sharp in the off-season. “You’re hoping they take that message and are ready to play when you come back.”

Still, Menzel thinks many players – hers included – might have benefited from the forced break in golf. It gave them a chance to rest, and now they’re hungry to come back.

Even though she can’t recruit, thanks to a COVID-prompted recruiting dead period (which includes appearing at any tournament where there might be junior players present), Menzel has kept a sharp eye on her players’ progress from afar. The Hawkeyes have a weekly Zoom call. It’s a good place to find out when and where each player is competing, what they’re working on and generally stay in touch.

Menzel and Dana Lerner, one of the players in the Golfweek field this week, even remotely read a book together during the summer, Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie.

“It’s been fun to connect about the book each week,” Menzel said.

The Big 10 is among a handful of conferences that announced this month that should fall sports be played, teams could only compete within the conference. As the fall golf season approaches, Menzel has spoken with other coaches and is still waiting for further direction. Many details, it seems, still need to fall into place.

“It is a little bit of hurry up and wait,” she said. “You feel like, ‘This might be the week we find out something and we’ll be able to tell our team or make some plans.’”

The Golfweek Midwest Collegiate includes a field of 33 women and 85 men competing at Purdue’s Kampen Course. The 54-hole event begins Wednesday and concludes Friday.

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Entries open for Golfweek Myrtle Beach Team Challenge, Golfweek Midwest Collegiate

The inaugural Golfweek/Myrtle Beach Team Challenge will be like college golf’s version of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

There’s something about the team golf experience that makes it one-of-a-kind. College players itching to get that feeling back from time lost this past spring season now have the opportunity to pair up and face off this season.

The inaugural Golfweek/Myrtle Beach Team Challenge will be like college golf’s version of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the annual PGA Tour stop that allows players to partner up for the week. Golfweek will host the new event at the Dye Club at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach.

The venue has hosted everything from mini tour events to the flight winners’ playoff of the Myrtle Beach World Handicap Amateur in past years.

The 36-hole Team Challenge will be played June 27-28, with the first day featuring a modified alternate shot format and the second day featuring a best ball competition. The event includes men’s and women’s divisions, and is open to all current collegiate golfers, including incoming freshmen as well as players who competed on a college roster in the 2019-20 season.

The Team Challenge joins Golfweek’s existing Myrtle Beach lineup, which includes the Myrtle Beach Collegiate and Myrtle Beach Coaches Challenge at Barefoot Dye from June 24-26. The Golfweek Program Challenge, which features men’s and women’s teams from the same university, is played each fall at True Blue and Caledonia.

Golfweek is also adding a tournament opportunity at Purdue University’s Kampen Golf Course on July 28-31. The Golfweek Midwest Collegiate is an individual 54-hole stroke-play event for all collegians, including incoming freshmen.

Registration for the Golfweek/Myrtle Beach Team Challenge can be found at this link. Players interested in registering for the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate can do so at this link.