With a score of 15-over par, 19 off the pace, the Wisconsin men’s golf team finished in a fifth place tie Tuesday at the Memphis Tiger Intercollegiate in Memphis, Tenn., at the Colonial Country Club.
Mississippi, ranked 48 in the Golfweek/Sagarn men’s team rankings, won the tournament by a comfortable eight-stroke margin. The Rebels were the only team to finish the event under par, with a score of four-under.
Southern Mississippi finished in a distant second, at four-over par. Host school Memphis finished third at seven-over par. Penn State, lead by sophomore Kevin Foley who posted an individual tournament best score of six-under par, finished fourth with a score of eight-over par. Mississippi State ended their tournament in a tie with Wisconsin to round out the top five.
The tournament proved to be a somewhat disappointing one for the higher profile schools. None of the three best scoring teams in this tournament held a top 25 ranking, and second place finisher Southern Mississippi was not even ranked in the top 50.
At No. 13 in the nation, South Alabama was the highest ranked team to participate, but the Jaguars finished 12th in the 15 team tournament. Wisconsin came into the tournament ranked No. 25, which was the third highest ranked team in the field.
The Memphis Intercollegiate marked the lowest team finish of the young season for Wisconsin. The Badgers posted second place finishes in each of their two other events.
Individually, Badger juniors Dan Woltman and Danny Zimmerman each shot a team high of three-over par, which tied them for the 18th best score in the tournament. Woltman, rated at No. 48 in the Golfweek/Sagarn men’s individual rankings is currently the only Badger ranked individually in the top 50. Zimmerman is ranked No. 72.
Wisconsin’s fellow junior Tyler Obermueller shot a five-over par, which placed him tied for 30th in the contest. Senior Jeff Kaiser and sophomore Jordan Elsen completed Wisconsin’s five-man squad. Kaiser shot a six-over par, which was good for 34th in the event, and Elsen finished at eight-over par, and 45th in the overall.
After Foley, Mississippi’s Jesse Speirs finished second at five-under par. Speirs’s teammate Kyle Ellis tied Mississippi State’s Logan Young for third with a score of one-under par. Just eight of the 87 individual entrants scored at or below par, and four of them belonged to Mississippi.
Because of inclement weather Monday, the tournament adjusted to a 36-hole event, as opposed to the 54 holes the players were originally supposed to play.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report
