On the final day of the Purdue Fall Invitational, the Illinois State men's golf team improved its position by moving up two spots in the standings. The team posted a third-round score of 289, finishing fourth overall with a total score of 870.
Purdue University, hosting the tournament, secured first place with a three-round total of 839. Butler University finished second at 858, and Oakland University was third with 867. Illinois State's score placed them ahead of Nebraska, Northern Illinois, and Southern Illinois, who finished with scores of 872, 875, and 877 respectively. The rest of the field included Toledo (879), Western Kentucky (880), Ball State (886), Loyola-Chicago (892), Ohio (893), South Dakota State (899), Purdue Fort Wayne (906), and Valparaiso (914).
Illinois State's TJ Barger led his team by tying for fifth individually after carding a final-round 72. Over three rounds, Barger finished with a total score of 213, which included five birdies and eight pars in his last round. This result marked his second top-five finish in the fall season.
Teammates Pietro Pontiggia, Max Faucquez, and Francis Bautista all tied for 28th place. Both Faucquez and Bautista recorded even-par scores of 72 in their final rounds, each making two birdies and fourteen pars. Pontiggia finished with a final-round 78.
Freshman Samuel Ottwell closed with a final-round 72 as well—matching two birdies and fourteen pars—and tied for 37th place overall with a total score of 223.
In addition to the main tournament field, Redbirds' Gonzalo Cuellar competed in the Purdue Individual event across the street at Birck Boilermaker Golf Course. Cuellar tied for ninth place with rounds of 70 and 77. Aiden Cudney tied for twentieth after shooting rounds of 78 and 77.
The Redbirds will wrap up their fall season next weekend at the Dayton Invitational hosted by NCR South Country Club in Kettering, Ohio on October 20-21.
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