Tag: Purdue Kampen Course

Jieni Li holds on for one-shot victory at Golfweek Purdue Amateur

Jieni Li felt the pressure coming from Sophia Trombetta but in the end Li’s final-round 70 was enough to net her the Golfweek Purdue Am win.

Jieni Li’s blood pressure likely spiked watching Sophia Trombetta try to catch her Friday at the Golfweek Purdue Amateur. The two were paired together in the final round at Purdue’s Ackerman-Allen Course in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Trombetta was trying to make up ground.

What was it like to watch her putt for birdie on No. 18 to force a potential playoff?

“It was really stressful because her putting today was really good,” said Li, a sophomore at Northwestern. “…She made a lot of long putts.”

Li felt like the pressure was coming from Trombetta all day but in the end, Li’s final-round 70 was enough to net her the win at 9 under for 54 holes. Trombetta, a senior at Michigan, parred the final hole and finished one back after her closing 68, the best score of any competitor in the final round.

Scores: Golfweek Purdue Amateur

“It was pretty good because I feel like this course is good for me to play,” Li said of her win. “It’s not that long and it provides me a lot of chance. My irons are on the way back, it provides me a lot of birdie putts. My putting wasn’t so good today but it was good yesterday, which I made three putts. Also the day before. I felt like I like my performance this week.”

Li, the 2018 Hong Kong Junior Open champion, felt like the week at Purdue brought her confidence back ahead of the upcoming college season. It showed her where her weaknesses were and where she can devote more work to her game.

Behind Trombetta, Daniela Ballesteros was third at 5 under.

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Purdue’s Andrew Farraye found a fix through switch putting, and it led him to first major amateur win

A year ago Andrew Farraye was struggling so much with his putter that he was questioning his future in golf.

A year ago, Andrew Farraye was struggling so much with his putter that he was questioning his future in golf.

“I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to make anything out of myself in golf because I just got so deep into the yips,” said Farraye, who is approaching his senior year at Purdue. “I really think I figured it out.”

Farraye, who plays right-handed, has been struggling with short putts for the past year and a half. A friend who plays for the University of North Florida suggested switching to left-handed putting.

That solved the problem of short putts for a couple of months, but he struggled on lengthier ones.

Scores: Golfweek Purdue Amateur

That’s how Farraye came to be a switch putter. It’s a rather unconventional solution, but one seen before most notably by Mac O’Grady and Notah Begay.

“I started thinking, looking online for things. I found this two-sided bladed putter, it’s just like a blade. It’s kind of like the old Bullseye, but just like a newer-looking putter. So I putt lefty inside of about 10 or 15 feet and righty outside of that,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of success with that and obviously it showed this week. I just switched to this putter about a month ago so I’m pretty glad with the results I’ve been seeing lately.”

Armed with a Bell two-sided blade putter he found online, Farraye now seems to have found the fix. He putts right-handed until he gets inside 10 or 15 feet, and then switches to lefty. This week, that produced his lowest round ever at Purdue’s Kampen Course, a 66 that included only one bogey. He bookended that with rounds of 73-68 to win the Golfweek Purdue Amateur by a shot over teammate Peyton Snoeberger. A third Boilermaker, Jason Hong, was third another shot back.

Andrew Farraye with his Bell putter
Andrew Farraye with his Bell putter after winning the 2021 Golfweek Purdue Amateur. (Photo by Golfweek)

“I won a few little local things when I was really young but I’ve never won anything since I’ve been in high school,” said Farraye, who grew up in St. Augustine, Florida.

This week at Purdue, Farraye drew some comfort from being on his adopted home course but he can’t deny the impact of his putting.

“Just being comfortable over every 4 or 5 footer that I have is mind-blowingly different.”

Farraye is an exceptionally talented ballstriker and he caught on quick to Midwest golf upon moving from Florida to Indiana three years ago.

He plans two more years at Purdue, with one being the extra year of eligibility given back to college athletes because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I didn’t play whole lot of golf up north when I was in high school and as a junior golfer,” he said. “Definitely had to adapt and especially out of the rough, hit short-game shots and how the ball comes out of the rough.

“I think I caught on pretty quick in learning that and now I prefer northern golf over southern golf.”

Earlier this summer, Farraye finished in the top 20 at the Chattanooga Choo Invitational. He also played the Trans-Mississippi Amateur, putting the double-sided putter in play for the first time that week.

“I didn’t make a lot of mid-range putts because I had just started using it, I was still getting used to it,” he said.

But now that he’s comfortable? Look out.

Andrew Farraye, Purdue
Andrew Farraye’s Bell putter. (Golfweek photo)

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Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play: Indiana

The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort is the top course on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in Indiana.

When basketball fans think of the best from central Indiana, they might reflect on the Hick from French Lick, Celtics great Larry Bird.

Switching sports, when traveling golfers think of that same region, it’s completely natural to focus on French Lick Resort, home to the top two public-access golf courses in the Hoosier State. And even more famous is Pete Dye, the famed course architect who left his fingerprints all over the course rankings for Indiana.

Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.

The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort is No. 1 on that list. Opened in 2009 on rugged terrain, the layout first took shape on a napkin, with Dye facing many challenges on the land but also many opportunities. The result is a modern stunner that ranks No. 4 on the 2020 Golfweek’s Best list for casino courses in the United States, No. 38 on the 2021 list for all resort courses in the United States and No. 147 on the 2020 list for modern courses built in or after 1960 in the U.S.

French Lick’s Donald Ross course (Courtesy of French Lick Resort)

French Lick Resort’s Donald Ross course, by contrast, is a much more traditional layout, as would be suggested by its iconic namesake designer. Built in 1917 and restored in exacting detail by Lee Schmidt and Michael Fay in 2005, the Ross layout ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for Indiana, No. 16 among all casino courses in the U.S. and No. 106 for all resort courses.

Pete Dye, in partnership with Tim Liddy, struck again for No. 3 on Golfweek’s public-access list for Indiana with The Fort, which opened in 1997 at the former Fort Benjamin Harrison U.S. Army post. Dye shows up again with the No. 4 course in Indiana, the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex’s Kampen Course at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

The Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame in Indiana (Copyright USGA/Fred Vuich)

The No. 5 honor in Indiana goes to the design duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and their Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame, which opened in 2000.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Indiana

1. French Lick Resort (Pete Dye)

French Lick (No. 147)

2. French Lick Resort (Ross)

French Lick (c)

3. The Fort

Indianapolis (m)

4. Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (Kampen)

East Lafayette (m)

5. Warren GC at Notre Dame

South Bend (m)

6. Harrison Hills

Attica (c)

7. Chariot Run

Laconia (m)

8. Sultan’s Run

Jasper (m) 

9. Otter Creek

Columbus (c)

10. Brickyard Crossing

Indianapolis (m)

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in Indiana

1. Victoria National

Newburgh (No. 54 m)

2. Crooked Stick

Carmel (No. 65 m)

3. Sycamore Hills

Fort Wayne (m)

4. *Chatham Hills

Westfield (m)

5. Broadmoor

Indianapolis (c)

*New to the list in 2020

(m): modern; (c): classic

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Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.

Not all is lost: Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Lauren Hartlage relish a win at Purdue

Neither Adrien Dumont de Chassart nor Lauren Hartlage are competing with their college team this fall, which makes the Purdue win sweeter.

Adrien Dumont de Chassart didn’t like the way things were looking at Purdue’s Kampen Course on Saturday morning. He played his first 12 holes of a 36-hole day at the Golfweek Purdue Amateur in 2 over.

“I made some adjustment of my putting and started putting better,” the Illinois junior said.

From there, things got considerably better. He cut out the bogeys, played the next six holes in 2 under, the went bogey-free on the second 18 for a second-round 67.

“Today one of my goals was to play a bogey-free card again and that’s what I did,” he said of a final-round 68 that sealed a four-shot win over Nico Lang and James Imai.

It was a grind at the Kampen Course, Dumont de Chassart said, even though the weather was nearly perfect and the greens were rolling nicely.

Scores: Golfweek Purdue Amateur

Despite the fact that Big 10 teams are not competing this fall, the German Dumont de Chassart is seeing plenty of on-course action. After going home for the summer, where he played the GTGA Invitational, he came back to play the U.S. Amateur in August. He finished 80th at Bandon Dunes, missing the match-play cut.

But since then, Dumont de Chassart has finished third in a GCAA Amateur Series event at the University of Illinois Golf Club in September and 11th at the Golfweek Indiana Amateur last week.

“I came back on campus, practiced hard with my teammates,” he said. “I played two tournaments before this one. I played pretty good in one, struggled in the other one and made some good adjustments before this one and it paid off.”

Lauren Hartlage is improvising similarly. The fifth-year Louisville senior returned this year as an Honorable Mention All-American but the ACC is not competing in fall golf, either.

After a summer lineup that included the North & South Women’s Amateur, Ladies National Golf Association and U.S. Women’s Amateur, Hartlage teed it up among a collegiate field last month at the Golfweek Caledonia Amateur. She finished seventh.

At Purdue’s Ackerman-Allen Course, Hartlage fired rounds of 68-67-74 for a one-shot win over Irene Kim.

“It’s awesome being able to finally able to play some more collegiate athletes, and a lot of good players here for sure,” she said of the confidence this title brings.

Hartlage hit the ball well both days at Purdue, but struggled with her putter on Sunday. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that she has the time to go home to work on the weaknesses.

“It’s been tough not being able to play with the team but we’ve still been having practices and workouts and still working on our games and it’s good to have a couple of these tournaments in there so we’re working toward that and being able to fix the things that we might not be able to if we had a season.”

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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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Veteran Purdue women’s golf coach Devon Brouse records first hole-in-one

Brouse recorded his first hole-in-one on Thursday at Purdue, but his thoughts quickly shifted to his long-time friend, Pete Dye

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – More than six hours after Devon Brouse finally achieved one of golf’s elusive feats, the veteran coach of the Purdue women’s program took a moment to reflect.

Brouse recorded his first hole-in-one on Thursday at Purdue’s Ackerman-Allen course, but his thoughts quickly shifted to his long-time friend, Pete Dye, who passed away earlier this year.

Dye designed the school’s two courses and for Brouse to reach this milestone on one of his Purdue layouts made the achievement special.

“Absolutely,” Brouse said. “That course over there is near and dear because of the sweat equity we put into it and my friend Pete Dye, who we all admire. To do it right there is cool.”

Brouse’s hole-in-one set off a social media and text frenzy among his children, friends, former assistants and golf buddies that didn’t let up throughout the day.

Purdue volleyball coach Dave Shondell, who was playing in the group with Brouse, tweeted a picture of the accomplishment. And then Brouse just let the world come to him on his phone, virtually non-stop.

Brouse made his hole-in-one on the par 3, 17th hole. Drizzle was starting to fall, and the wind was slightly in his face. He used a seven-wood from 167 yards.

“It’s a little bit out of my range for my five-iron into the wind,” said Brouse, who guided the program to the 2010 NCAA Championship and a runner-up finish in 2011. “I hit it straight at the hole. I couldn’t see but nobody saw it go in.

“We’re riding up there and there’s a ball on the front of the green. I know that’s not mine because I knew mine was close. There’s nothing on the back. The other guys had missed the green.

“I asked Shondell: ‘Is there a ball in the hole?’ He walks over … ‘drinks are on Devon.’ ”

Although golf has been a huge part of Brouse’s life, coaching takes up plenty of time and playing isn’t a priority. Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the college sports world in the spring, Brouse has spent more time on the course playing.

WALK-ON: Ashley Kozlowski sees opportunity with Purdue program

“I’ve played more golf since the lockdown in the last 3 ½ months than I’ve played the last 30 years,” Brouse said. “Being tied up with the teams in the fall and the spring and recruiting in the summer, I haven’t played a lot of golf.

“Your game doesn’t stand neglect. You have to service it and practice it.”

Brouse said Thursday was his best personal round since he recorded a 71 in the rain at Turnberry in Scotland in the mid-1980s when he was the head coach at North Carolina.

He’s also been determined to shoot his age, which is 71. He fired a 68 on Thursday. Brouse’s score wasn’t the best round of the group. Purdue men’s golf coach Rob Bradley shot a 66 but Brouse came out on top in the end.

“I was in a zone,” Brouse said. “I could’ve birdied the first seven holes.”

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

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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