Two Michigan State golfers finish top five at Big Ten Championships
The Michigan State men's golf team is having a phenomenal season, and it all came down to the Big Ten championships this weekend. The three day event put all 14 Big Ten teams against each other as they battled it out to see who would become Big Ten champions.
On top of the team championship, the Spartan golfers were also competing for the individual Big Ten championship as well, and two Michigan State golfers performed extremely well.
Two Spartan golfers finish top 5
Junior Ashton McCulloch was the top finisher for Michigan State, who finished tied for third overall with a 215 (+5) final score. McCulloch came into the final round even par, but limped to the finish line with a final round 75 (+5). Even with the poor final round, McCulloch finishing tied for third in the Big Ten which is still a huge accomplishment.
Not far behind McCulloch is senior Auguest Meekhof, who finished tied for 5th overall with a 217 (+7) final score. Similarly to McCulloch, Meekhof also struggled in the final round. Coming into the round he sat +1 overall, but a final round 76 (+6) eliminated any chance of winning the individual Big Ten championship. However, just like McCulloch, a top five finish is nothing to be upset about and is something he should be very proud of.
Spartan team falls to a fourth place finish
The team overall finished fourth with a score of 889 (+49). This was behind first place finisher Northwestern (+23), Illinois (+38) and Purdue (+46).
Heading into the final round, Michigan State was in second place and only three shots back of Northwestern. But similarly to the two Spartans who finished top five, the rest of the team also struggled in the final round. In fact, Michigan State's +32 final round score was the worst out of all 14 teams.
Thankfully for MSU, they played well enough in the first two rounds so they didn't fall down the leaderboard too much. But with a chance to win the tournament heading into the final round, this day's performance left a lot to be desired.
Now the Spartans will have to wait and see if they earn a bid into the NCAA tournament. If selected, the Spartans' NCAA tournament play will begin on May 13.