WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.– Behind a third-round team score of 289, the Illinois State men's golf team climbed two spots in the third and final day of the Purdue Fall Invitational.
Tournament-host Purdue ran away with the team title behind a three-round score of 839. Butler (858), and Oakland (867) finished just ahead of ISU's 870. Nebraska (872), Northern Illinois (875), and Southern Illinois (877) finished just behind the Redbirds with Toledo (879), Western Kentucky (880), Ball State (886), Loyola-Chicago (892), Ohio (893), South Dakota State (899), Purdue Fort Wayne (906), and Valparaiso (914) rounded out the 15 schools in the field.
Leading the way for Illinois State was TJ Barger, who tied for fifth individually after a final-round 72. His last round of his three-round 213 had five birdies and eight pars, and he now has nine rounds this season – of 12 total – where his score was at or under par, and the finish was his second top-five finish of the fall season.
Pietro Pontiggia, Max Faucquez, and Francis Bautista were all in a tie for 28th place in the field with both Faucquez and Bautista closing with an even-par 72, while Pontiggia a final-round 78. Faucquez and Bautista eac had two birdies and 14 pars for their final-round 72, while Pontiggia had two birdies and nine pars for his round.
Closing out the final student-athlete in the Invitational for the Redbirds was freshman Samuel Ottwell, whose final-round 72 also had two birdies and 14 pars, and his final-round score put him into a tie for 37th with a 54-hole score of 223.
Playing across the street at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Course, Redbirds' Gonzalo Cuellar tied for ninth place at the Purdue Individual, using rounds of 70 and 77, while Aiden Cudney tied for 20th with rounds of 78 and 77.
The Redbirds close out their fall season next weekend at the Dayton Invitational hosted at NCR South Country Club in Kettering, Ohio on October 20 and 21.
