On Monday, the UW Men's Golf team kicked off its season at the USF Olympic Club Intercollegiate tournament in San Fransisco. The 61st-ranked Badgers finished the two-day affair in ninth place in a field of 15 competing schools.
The Badgers competed with four seniors: Patrick Duffy, Tyler Obermueller, Dan Woltman and Danny Zimmerman. The lone junior was Jordan Elson.
Woltman followed up on his all-conference honors from last season with a first-place finish among UW golfers and 20th overall at Olympic Club. He shot six over par for the tournament.
Woltman left his best round of golf for last with an impressive three under par in the tournament's final round. Woltman stayed consistent without a single double bogey all tournament, while racking up four total birdies and one eagle.
Zimmerman was Wisconsin's next best participant, finishing eight over par through his three rounds. He started off in trouble with a six over par in the first round, but then found consistency, shooting one over par in the tourney's second and third rounds.
Oermueller finished the tournament at 10 over par. His best section of play came in the first round when he finished two over par.
Duffy shot a 13 over par. Like Zimmerman, he had an exceptionally difficult first round, shooting eight over par. Then he gained some momentum back with a two over par in the second round and a three over par in the final round.
Lastly, Elson also showed his ability to adapt to the course over time. He followed a combined 13 over par in the tournament's first two rounds with an impressive one over par in the final round.
Despite finishing the tournament in the bottom half of the 15 competing schools, the Badgers tied for second among all competitors in the tournament's final round with a score of two over par.
The winner of the tournament was the University of California. The Golden Bears finished with a total score of 861, just nine strokes over par. Michael Jenson carried the Golden Bears, tying for first among all participating golfers at even par for the tournament.
In second place was Colorado, which finished eight strokes behind the University of California. Their top performer, Derek Tolan, also topped the tournament's list of individual scores, tied with Jenson with his own three rounds at even par.
Rounding out the rest of the top five were UAB, Xavier and a tie for fifth between Oregon State University and University of San Diego.
This weekend, the Badgers will continue their season in Wayzata, Minnesota for the Gopher Invitational. The tournament will be held at Spring Hill Golf Club with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
