IU men’s golf faces a win-or-go-home situation this weekend in Baltimore. The Big Ten Championship kicks off Friday at Baltimore Country Club, and IU Coach Mike Mayer said the lineup will look identical to last weekend's lineup at Ohio State.
Senior Andrew Havill, sophomore Jake Brown and Freshman Brock Ochsenreiter round out the top of the lineup as they have for most of the season. Sophomore Jack Sparrow and junior Christian Fairbanks occupy the bottom two slots, that have been revolving doors of players this year, in the lineup this weekend.
Despite consistency at the top, Mayer said the team’s overall inconsistency was due to the lack of an exceptionally consistent player at the top. Mayer said Havill has provided solid rounds this season, but has not been the go-to player so far.
“I feel really good about the lineup,” Mayer said. “Any of our five players are capable of doing very well, but it was nice to know, back in the days of Brant Peaper, David Erdy or Jorge Campillo, that you had your go-to guy.”
Last year Havill churned out IU’s top individual performance at the Big Ten Championship in a tie for 28th. Brown finished four strokes back of Havill in a tie for 36th. This year, they face different players in the tournament, but a familiar foe in Illinois.
In 2016, Illinois didn’t just win the Big Ten Championship. They dominated the field by shooting a team total of -26. This number was 13 strokes clear of the runner-up Iowa Hawkeyes.
In the past three tournaments, the Fighting Illini have finished second at the Lone Star Invitational and fourth at the 3M Augusta Invitational, and last week they won the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate.
Illinois junior Dylan Meyer played a key role on last year’s team that took home the Big Ten title by shooting a three-round total of -2 in the tournament. Meyer shot the same score last weekend at the Kepler Intercollegiate where he was the top individual.
Eight top-11 finishers from last season’s Big Ten Championships return to this year’s event. This includes Illinois’ Dylan Meyer (T9), Iowa’s Raymond Knoll (5) and Matthew Walker (T6), Maryland’s David Kocher (T6), Michigan’s Kyle Mueller (3), Michigan State’s Sam Weatherhead (T9) and Northwestern’s Dylan Wu (T6). Three Illini golfers, including Meyer, cracked the 2016 Golfweek Top 100 individuals and were unanimous First Team All-Conference selections.
Four Big Ten teams are ranked among the top 50 according to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin national rankings. Illinois leads the way at No. 7 and is followed by No. 29 Purdue, No. 30 Northwestern and No. 50 Penn State. Last season, IU finished 10th in the Big Ten Championship, but this year 10 Big Ten teams are in the Golfweek Top 100, and IU didn’t make the list.
“We don’t play defense,” Mayer said. “We can’t do anything about the other 13 teams here and how well they fare. What we really need is for somebody to shine this tournament, and when that happens the other guys tend to go along for the ride.”
