Indiana University Athletics
Friday, February 5
Palm Coast, Fla.
Indiana University
vs
Ohio State
IU Men’s Golf Set to Open Season at Big Ten Match Play Championship
2/4/2021 12:14:00 PM | Men's Golf
PALM COAST, Fla. – The Indiana men's golf team officially opens the 2020-21 season on Friday in the Big Ten Match Play Championship on the Ocean Course at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Fla. The event will feature 12 Big Ten programs and IU will begin play against Ohio State on Friday at 8 a.m.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Feb. 5-6, 2021
Big Ten Match Play Championship • Palm Coast, Fla.
Hammock Beach Resort • Ocean Course
Live Scoring via GolfStat
Bracket
TEAM COMPETING (12)
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue
INDIANA LINEUP
IU will bring six to the tournament, with five playing in each match. Substitutions can be made between matches.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
This is the seventh consecutive year the event will be played at Hammock Beach Resort and the 13th year overall for the event. Last year, Indiana put up a 1-1-1 mark with a win against Rutgers, a loss to Penn State and a draw with Michigan. Davis, Shepherd and Evan Gaesser earned wins on the final day to lead IU past the Scarlet Knights. The Hoosiers won the very first Big Ten Match Championship in 2009.
The 12 teams have been drawn into a single-elimination bracket, with the seeds determined using the Nov. 11, 2020, final fall Golfstat rankings. Each team match will consist of six individual matches. Play gets started on Friday morning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. ET. No. 1 Northwestern, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Purdue and No. 4 Penn State will each receive a first-round bye. Indiana is the No. 10 seed.
In Friday's afternoon session, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, top-ranked Northwestern will play the winner of the Maryland/Michigan State match, Minnesota will face the winner of the Indiana/Ohio State match, Purdue will take on the winner of Rutgers/Wisconsin and Penn State will take the course against the winner of Iowa/Nebraska.
On Saturday, the morning session (8 a.m. ET) features the championship semifinals and consolation semifinals, while Saturday afternoon concludes with the championship, third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches.
This is the first time the Hoosiers have competed since Feb. 23, 2020 at the Dorado Beach Collegiate.
MAKING CAREER DEBUTS
Freshmen Clay Merchent and Drew Salyers will make their Indiana debuts on Friday. Merchent is a native of Noblesville, Ind. and was a four-time All-State pick. Nationally, he posted a pair of AJGA wins and seven top-10 finishes, including at the Thunderbird Invitational and the Ping Invitational. Salyers, who hails from Howard, Ohio, owns numerous scoring titles, including all scoring and win records at East Knox. He also holds the Golfweek Tour Low 18-hole scoring record of 62 (-10) and his Golfweek career scoring average of 71.5 is the second-best all-time in Golfweek Junior Tour history. This past October, he won the Indiana PGA Indianapolis Open, carding a 10-under-par 134 to best the rest of the competitive field by six strokes.
HOOSIERS RETURN PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE
In addition to the impressive freshmen class, IU brings back its top three averages from season in Davis (73.81), Shepherd (74.00) and Ochsenreiter (74.13). The three of them have combined for 222 rounds of golf, including 109 from Ochsenreiter who returns for his fifth year. Davis had an impressive fall competing unattached, as he finished T2 at the Golfweek Hoosier Amateur at the Pfau Corse, T4 at the Golfweek Purdue Amateur and T11 at the Indiana PGA Indianapolis Open.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Feb. 5-6, 2021
Big Ten Match Play Championship • Palm Coast, Fla.
Hammock Beach Resort • Ocean Course
Live Scoring via GolfStat
Bracket
TEAM COMPETING (12)
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue
INDIANA LINEUP
IU will bring six to the tournament, with five playing in each match. Substitutions can be made between matches.
- Mitch Davis (2-3-1)
- Clay Merchent (first appearance)
- Harry Reynolds (1-3)
- Drew Salyers (first appearance)
- Ethan Shepherd (9-2)
- Brock Ochsenreiter (4-10)
TOURNAMENT NOTES
This is the seventh consecutive year the event will be played at Hammock Beach Resort and the 13th year overall for the event. Last year, Indiana put up a 1-1-1 mark with a win against Rutgers, a loss to Penn State and a draw with Michigan. Davis, Shepherd and Evan Gaesser earned wins on the final day to lead IU past the Scarlet Knights. The Hoosiers won the very first Big Ten Match Championship in 2009.
The 12 teams have been drawn into a single-elimination bracket, with the seeds determined using the Nov. 11, 2020, final fall Golfstat rankings. Each team match will consist of six individual matches. Play gets started on Friday morning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. ET. No. 1 Northwestern, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Purdue and No. 4 Penn State will each receive a first-round bye. Indiana is the No. 10 seed.
In Friday's afternoon session, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, top-ranked Northwestern will play the winner of the Maryland/Michigan State match, Minnesota will face the winner of the Indiana/Ohio State match, Purdue will take on the winner of Rutgers/Wisconsin and Penn State will take the course against the winner of Iowa/Nebraska.
On Saturday, the morning session (8 a.m. ET) features the championship semifinals and consolation semifinals, while Saturday afternoon concludes with the championship, third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches.
This is the first time the Hoosiers have competed since Feb. 23, 2020 at the Dorado Beach Collegiate.
MAKING CAREER DEBUTS
Freshmen Clay Merchent and Drew Salyers will make their Indiana debuts on Friday. Merchent is a native of Noblesville, Ind. and was a four-time All-State pick. Nationally, he posted a pair of AJGA wins and seven top-10 finishes, including at the Thunderbird Invitational and the Ping Invitational. Salyers, who hails from Howard, Ohio, owns numerous scoring titles, including all scoring and win records at East Knox. He also holds the Golfweek Tour Low 18-hole scoring record of 62 (-10) and his Golfweek career scoring average of 71.5 is the second-best all-time in Golfweek Junior Tour history. This past October, he won the Indiana PGA Indianapolis Open, carding a 10-under-par 134 to best the rest of the competitive field by six strokes.
HOOSIERS RETURN PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE
In addition to the impressive freshmen class, IU brings back its top three averages from season in Davis (73.81), Shepherd (74.00) and Ochsenreiter (74.13). The three of them have combined for 222 rounds of golf, including 109 from Ochsenreiter who returns for his fifth year. Davis had an impressive fall competing unattached, as he finished T2 at the Golfweek Hoosier Amateur at the Pfau Corse, T4 at the Golfweek Purdue Amateur and T11 at the Indiana PGA Indianapolis Open.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
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