Freshman Seger paces Hoosiers, IU finishes ninth

The IU men’s golf team struggled to find a rhythm in a talented field at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette this weekend. They finished in a tie for ninth place out of 15 teams.

The invitational included seven Big Ten teams competing against each other just two weeks before the Big Ten Championship.

IU hovered around the middle of the pack all weekend. After the first round, they sat in a tie for 10th. But by the end of the second round, they had moved up to a tie for eighth.

At the end of the tournament, they were in a tie with Michigan State for ninth place.

“I don’t think we played our best,” IU Coach Mike Mayer said. “We have to start getting all our guys going at the same time if we want to contend.”

Freshman Will Seger was the top golfer of the weekend for IU. His scores of 73-71-74 totaled a 218 (+2) and placed him 11th place individually.

“I played pretty well all weekend,” Seger said. “I can definitely build on this, and I think I’ve made some improvements in the last few tournaments.”

Seger started Sunday’s final round tied for fifth and was sitting at -1 overall through 51 holes. But he splashed a shot into a water hazard, resulting in a triple bogey on the par-3 which set him back. He finished the round at +2.

“I just have to be more cautious, I guess,” Seger said.

Mayer said Seger worked hard for the team, and his teammates don’t look at him as a freshman anymore.

“It’s the end of his freshman year, and he’s seen action in every tournament,” Mayer said. “He’s very mature, and I would not be at all surprised if he was a big time factor in two weeks.”

After Seger, sophomore Max Kollin’s rounds of 73-75-72 netted a +4 at 220. That score tied him with five other players for 16th place.

“I felt like I played pretty solid, for the most part,” Kollin said. “I got away with a couple shots, and I hit some that didn’t turn out fantastic. I feel like it all balances out in the end.”

The other three Hoosier golfers, senior David Mills and juniors Andrew Fogg and Nicholas Grubnich, were less consistent.

Mills, normally IU’s top golfer, could not come back from a rough start. His scores of 78-75-75 totaled an uncharacteristic 228 (+12). Mills tied for 52rd in the
tournament.

“David has been fighting through some issues lately,” Mayer said. “And he’s so close to breaking through. It’s frustrating. He’s so close.”

Fogg and Grubnich finished tied for 65th and 76th, respectively.

Grubnich started hot and was -2 through his first nine holes of the tournament, but fell away and finished the round at +5 and the tournament at +22.

The Hoosiers next hit the links in two weeks for the Big Ten Championship in French Lick, Ind. Mayer said the team will use the week off to focus on fundamentals.

“We made some mistakes we haven’t been making this tournament,” Mayer said. “We saw some fundamental mistakes, and we’re not a strong enough team to make fundamental mistakes. So we have some things to work on.”