A strong individual performance from graduate student Zach Place propelled NIU men’s golf to a top-10 finish at the Purdue Fall Invitational, which ended Tuesday. 

The Huskies brought home their fourth top-10 finish of the Fall season at the Purdue Fall Invitational, taking eighth place out of 15 teams. 

Led by Place’s strong performance, NIU shot an 861 during the two-day event. 

Place headlined NIU’s efforts at the event, finishing in fourth place individually. He shot an event low 67 in the first round, followed by another sub-70 score of 68 in Round 2. Place rounded out the event shooting a 72 in the third round to finish with an individual score of 207. 

“Zach was outstanding all week,” head coach John Carlson said in an NIU Athletics press release. “He was patient, attacked the course when in position and showed improvement with his short game. This was a great tournament for him to have the finish he did with a field of many top individuals.”

Junior Ben Sluzas was NIU’s second-best golfer of the event, tying for 12th place individually – NIU’s only other top 25 performance of the event. 

Sluzas shot a strong first two rounds, finishing with a 68 in each round respectively. In Round 3, Sluzas struggled to a 77, tied for the teams’ second-worst round score of the event. 

Sluzas ended the event with a three-round score of 213. 

Rounding out the top 3 golfers for NIU was graduate Josh Kirkham, who finished just outside the top 25 – tying for 30th place. 

Kirkham mirrored his teammate Sluzas in the first two rounds, shooting the same score in the first two rounds at 70. 

Staying with Sluzas’ trend, Kirkham struggled in Round 3 after a solid first two rounds, shooting a 77 in the final round. The 77 in Round 3 put Kirkham at 217 for the event. 

Other NIU golfers included junior Felix Krammer and sophomore Ian Bruchhauser, who each finished outside the top 50. 

Krammer finished tied for 67th with an event score of 225, while Bruchhauser struggled to a score of 231 – good for a tie for 79th place. 

Host school Purdue University brought home first place in the event, finishing with a team score of 842 – just one stroke better than second place Illinois State University. 

UP NEXT

The Huskies travel south to participate in their final event of the fall season – the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational – an all-day event ranging from Sunday to Monday at the Quail Valley Golf Club in Vero Beach, Florida. The event is hosted by Michigan State University.