WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – On a wet final round, the Illinois State men's golf team closed play at the 2022 Purdue Fall Invitational by placing 10th overall with a three-round 905 on the difficult 7,465-yard Kampen Golf Course.
Nationally-ranked Tennessee won the event with a three-round 856 with LSU (868), Purdue (875), Little Rock (881), and Nebraska (886) rounded out the top five in the tournament. Indiana (886), Memphis (888), VCU (889), and Iowa (891) all finished just ahead of the Redbirds. The final five schools in the tournament were Eastern Michigan (913), Ball State (916), Maryland (920), Central Arkansas (922), and Louisiana Tech (924).
The Redbirds' top finisher on the day – and the weekend – was senior Valentin Peugnet. On the final day the senior opened play on the eighth hole and started with six pars and a bogey over the opening seven holes. He answered back with one of his two birdies on the day to get back to even par. A double-bogey on the next hold had the even-par standing as short lived; however, he rallied with three pars and a birdie in his next four holes to drop to one over par. A stumble at the finish with three bogeys and a pair of pars to close with a four-over 76.
Parker Wisdom tied for 22nd individually with a final-round 77 in which he had 14 pars and four over-par scores, as he had two different stretches of seven consecutive pars.
Both Felix van Dijk and Alex McCulla carded a final-round 82, each finishing with a three-round 232, tied for 53rd. van Dijk had two birdies and six pars, while McCulla had a birdie and nine pars in their respective rounds. Will Troy finished as the 'Birds final scorer in the team field with a final-round 80 with two birdies and seven pars, finishing in 72nd place.
In a tournament on Purdue's other on-campus course – the Ackerman-Allen Golf Course – individuals from the various schools competed, and ISU freshman Pietro Pontiggia tied for 12th over the three rounds with a final found 69, giving him a 218. He was blemish-free on his scorecard through the first 17 holes, as he had four birdies and 13 pars; however, a bogey on the final hole moved him to three under par for the day with a 69 – the lowest score on the day in the field.
Jack Paeglow started slowly in his final round, and had four pars, four bogeys, and a birdie to make the turn at three over par. He closed strong with a three-under par back nine with six pars and three birdies, including all three birdies over the final six holes to finish even par on the day and with a three-round 223, tied for 23rd in the individual tournament.
ISU closes its fall season next week on Monday and Tuesday when the team competes in the Dayton Invitational hosted at the NCR South Country Club in Kettering, Ohio.
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