Indiana men’s golf finishes 6th at Kepler Intercollegiate to wrap up regular season

Within the fiftieth version of the Kepler Intercollegiate, Indiana males’s golf completed in sixth place with a complete staff rating of 859, 5-under par. The Hoosiers shot 3-under 285 and 4-under 284 on Saturday, adopted by a closing spherical of 2-over 290 on Sunday.

The efficiency marked the third time this season Indiana completed beneath par as a staff. The opposite two occasions the place the Hoosiers broke par general have been the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational and the Colleton River Collegiate, which have been each held at Michigan State College.

Sophomore Clay Merchent completed on the high of the leaderboard out of all Indiana golfers, and tied for sixth general individually. His complete rating of 211 and to-par rating of 5-under are each his second-best numbers of his Indiana profession. He solely carried out higher in his debut event with the Hoosiers, when he carded a rating of 209 (-7) on the Cellular Bay Intercollegiate again in February 2021.

Merchent led Indiana in spite of everything three rounds, and carded rounds of 69 and 72 to complete Saturday 3-under par and tied for twelfth. His play helped make the Hoosiers one in every of simply six competing groups to interrupt par in each rounds performed Saturday, because the staff posted a complete of 39 birdies. Merchent recorded six birdies in spherical one and Indiana’s lone eagle in spherical two.

[Indiana women’s golf finishes 13th in Big Ten Championships]

Regardless of Merchent’s rating of even-par 72 within the second spherical, one other Hoosier topped his effort. Fifth-year senior Ethan Shepherd posted a 3-under 69, highlighted by a team-high six birdies. Shepherd and Merchent have been two of 4 Indiana golfers within the top-30 after the primary day of play. Sophomore Drew Salyers and senior Mitch Davis stood in ties for nineteenth and twenty second, respectively. Salyers was 1-under par after 36 holes, whereas Davis was at even-par.

Three birdies and one bogey within the closing spherical led to a rating of 70 for Merchent, who wrapped up the occasion along with his finest efficiency of the season. Total, the sophomore completed with one eagle, 9 birdies and 6 bogeys over the 54-hole event. It’s the fifth time Merchent has completed within the high 10 at a event in his Indiana profession, and the primary time because the Boilermaker Invitational in April 2021, when he completed fourth.

Indiana may have a fast turnaround earlier than taking part in on the Large Ten Championships subsequent weekend at The Dye Course at French Lick in French Lick, Indiana.