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THIS WEEK
Feb. 15-16, 2015 -- Big Ten Match Play Championship
Golf Course: Hammock Beach Resort - Ocean Course and Conservatory Course
Location: Palm Beach, Fla.
Par/Yardage: Ocean Course: Par 72 / 7,201 yards | Conservatory Course: Par 72 / 7,776 yards
Live Scoring: AJGA.org
Indiana Season Stats: 2014-15 Season
Tournament Bracket
INDIANA PARTICIPANTS (Year | 2014-15 scoring avg.)
Max Kollin | Junior | 77.27
Brendon Doyle | Freshman | 77.82
Matt Weber | Freshman | 76.18
Will Seger | Sophomore | 78.50
Nicholas Grubnich | Senior | 75.79
Keegan Vea | Sophomore |
75.66
THE FIELD:
All 14 of the member schools of the Big Ten Conference.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The teams are seeded according to their Golfstat rankings, with the top two seeds receiving a bye. The teams that lose their first match will go to a Round Robin bracket while the six winning teams in the first round, along with the top two seeds, will compete in the championship and consolation bracket. (See tournament bracket linked above). The Hoosiers, seeded No. 12, will play No. 5 seed Northwestern in the first round on Sunday morning starting at 8:50 a.m.
The teams will have five golfers competing each round, along with one alternate that can replace anyone in the lineup after the completion of a round.
AT THE BIG TEN MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
This year is the seventh edition of the Big Ten Match Play Championship, and the first being held at the Hammock Beach Resort. Indiana won the innaugural event in 2009.
Last year, Max Kollin and Will Seger both posted 3-1 records at the event while Nicholas Grubnich went 2-2 and Keegan Vea was 1-2 in the first appearance for all four players.
BEST TEAM SCORE OF THE SEASON
In the final team tournament of the fall, the Hoosiers posted their best team score of the season to date, coming in with a score of 882 at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational.
KOLLIN CLIMING THE RANKS
Junior Max Kollin has steadily been improving since a rocky start to the fall schedule.
He opened his season with three rounds in the 80s at the Northern Intercollegiate and a 72nd place finish. The next time out - at Wolf Run - he finished T48 with rounds of 77-81-75. He registered his best finish of the season at the Sagamore Fall Preview, coming in T26 after carding his best round of the season - a 72 in round two. Then, at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational, a tournament that had 11 of the 15 teams ranked inside the top 50 in the country, Kollin opened with a 74 before logging 72 and 71 in his final two rounds to tie for 40th place in one of the best fields of the season.
FAIRBANKS FINISHES T12
Indiana freshman Christian Fairbanks used a second round score of 72 (E) to vault up the leaderboard at the Sagamore Preview in Noblesville, Ind. He finished T12 in the tournament, the best finish of his career and the best finish by an IU freshman since Will Seger's T4 finish at the NYX Hoosier Invitational last year.
GIVE IT UP FOR GRUB
Senior Nicholas Grubnich has started his final collegiate campaign with a couple of strong showings in very good fields. He opened the season with a T4 finish at the Northern Intercollegiate played at Rich Harvest Farms. He opened with a round of 77, but rallied to post scores of 72 and 69 and surge up the leaderboard. So far this season, Grubnich has posted rounds of 75 or better six times.
Over the summer, Grubnich claimed the Indiana state amateur title and earned a spot in the U.S. Amateur at the Atlanta Athletic Club. All of that comes on the heels of his T7 finish at the Big Ten Championship last spring.
KEEPING THE LINEUP "FRESH"
In each of the first five tournaments, head coach Mike Mayer has had two freshmen in the lineup.
Northern Intercollegiate: Brendon Doyle, Christian Fairbanks
Olympia Fields: Brendon Doyle, Matt Weber
Wolf Run: Brendon Doyle, Matt Weber
Sagamore: Matt Weber, Christian Fairbanks, Brendon Doyle (Individual)
Tavistock: Matt Weber, Christian Fairbanks
