This weekend, the Wisconsin men's golf team will take its clubs to the Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn., to compete in the Gopher Invitational. This is the team's second outing of their fall schedule. They spent the early half of the past week at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, competing in the USF Olympic Club Intercollegiate.
The Badgers sent five golfers to San Francisco, all of whom are Wisconsin natives. With four of the five being seniors, experience is at a premium on the team and that experience was evident throughout their play. The top two Wisconsin performers were seniors Dan Woltman and Danny Zimmerman.
Woltman finished in a tie for 20th place with a score of 219, six strokes over par. His final score matched his season low from last season. It was Woltman's final round of play that moved him into 20th place. After the first two rounds, he was in a tie for 48th place.
Zimmerman finished a mere two strokes behind Woltman, shooting a 72 in both the second and third rounds of play. Zimmerman finished in a tie for 27th place overall with a final score of 221, eight over par.
Collectively, all five Badger golfers finished among the top 54 competitors. Wisconsin finished ninth out of 15 teams. This bodes well heading into their competition this weekend with not only experience to back them but confidence as well.
The Badgers will tee off against 11 other teams in Wayzata - two of which are fellow Big Ten competitors, Iowa and Minnesota.
Having finished in a tie for second place last year at the Gopher Invitational, Wisconsin is poised to take a swing at capturing first. Woltman may have led the team in San Francisco, but Zimmerman could take the lead in Wayzata. At last year's invitational, Zimmerman tied for first place with then senior Casey Clendenon of Lamar University. Zimmerman finished the first two rounds with scores of 66 and 70, respectively. However, Zimmerman scored a 79 in the final round of play to finish with a total score of 215, one under par. It was this third round drop off that allowed Clendenon to move in for the tie.
With a little more experience behind his swing and Clendenon out of the way, first place is within Zimmerman's grasp.
However, it may be Woltman who takes Clendenon's spot as Zimmerman's top competitor this year. Last year, Woltman shot 73 in the first round, a 68 in the second and finished with a third round score of 77. Woltman's efforts awarded him sole possession of sixth place with a total score of 218, two over par.
As Zimmerman and Woltman work to shower the leader board in Badger red and white, the other members of the pure bred Wisconsin team look to capture a piece of the glory as well.
Seniors Tyler Obermueller and Pat Duffy and junior Jordan Elsen are looking to ride their success in San Francisco into the Gopher Invitational, and in the process prove that the men of Badger golf are true contenders.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
