The No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan men’s golf team placed third in the 54-hole Wabash Invite, their penultimate contest of the fall season.
The Titans’ A-team (consisting of freshman Jared Code, sophomore Pablo Castro, and seniors Myles Lahart, Aidan Healy and Juney Bai) placed third.
The B-team (senior Michael Spitzer, sophomore Joey Sluzas, and first-years Ryan Andrews, Ben Gelven and Kevin Schuh) placed fourth.
The 15-school contest included many notable opponents, including three ranked opponents—No. 2 Carnegie Mellon, No. 6 Emory and No. 10 Kenyon—and two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) rivals—Millikin and North Central.
Healy led the A-Team with his career-best 54-hole score of six-under, 210, to nab a share of fourth place.
“I felt like my ball striking was really solid at Wabash,” Healy said. “I think I was able to take advantage of some of the holes thanks to the experience I had playing there last year,” he said.
“The team as a whole is really starting to click. Having so many guys close to the top five is huge for us moving forward,” Healy said. Close behind Healy were two more top-10 finishes: A-team’s Bai with a 213 and B-team’s Andrews with a career best, 214.
“Going into the week, the B-team knew that we had a chance to contend for the tournament win,” Andrews said. “But having the extra chip on our shoulder to beat the A-team was super motivating too.”
“As a group, we all played smart golf and stuck to our game plan. Having Coach Wuethrich out there with the team was incredibly helpful, as his course knowledge is excellent,” Andrews said.
“We have a good mix of upperclassmen and first-years and sophomores, so giving them experience is awesome,” Bai said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see the first-years and sophomores win a national title once us seniors leave.”
“We have one of the deepest teams in the country, as shown by how good our second team has been all year,” head coach Jim Ott said.
“Our younger guys have been working hard and pushing the older guys for spots in the lineup. We might have the best freshmen class in the country, and they’re only going to get better,” Ott said.
Looking ahead, the Titans have their final fall contest, the Tartan Invitational, on Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 13-14. Healy, Bai, Castro, Lahart and Sluzas will travel to Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa.
“While it stings not to make the A team after working hard all summer and during this season, I am excited to start the off-season grind,” Andrews said. “At Wabash, my putting was a bit up and down. I had some fantastic birdies and an eagle, but on the flip side, I missed 6-7 putts from inside 10 feet in my final round,” he said.
“Continuing to practice areas where I lose shots each round will be my focus over the off-season,” Andrews said.
“I’m excited for the opportunity at the Tartan Invitational,” Healy said. “The course looks unbelievable, and I’ll be focusing on tightening up my mental game knowing how big of a challenge it’ll be.”
The Titans will face off against 16 teams, including four of the top five ranked opponents and seven of the top ten.
“The Tartan Invitational field is very strong, but we’ll hold up well,” Ott said. “We’ve gotten off to rough starts in some tournaments, so hopefully we can turn the tide and start hot. We’ve proven we’re as good as any team in the country, and this tournament gives us one last opportunity to show it this fall,” he said.
“We are all feeling really good,” Bai said. “Laurel Valley is a top private course in the nation, and we’re all looking forward to playing on it,” he said.
“To be able to play with the top teams in the nation this weekend will be awesome. This is our last event, so we want to enjoy it,” Bai said.
The Titans’ final two-day competition of the fall starts on Monday.
Live results will be available on https://scoreboard.clippd.com.
