NIU men’s golf enters the Fall 2024 season competing in six events beginning Sunday at the Island Resort Intercollegiate. The Huskies finished last season with their best placement, tying for third place at the 2024 MAC Championship.
The Huskies competed in 11 events last season and averaged 290.212 strokes per round. NIU’s best round came at the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational last fall with a score of 274 in the first round.
Head coach John Carlson shared his excitement for the upcoming season.
“I’m excited. We have a mix of veteran leadership and then four incoming freshmen that have all won at the junior level,” Carlson said. “We should have very competitive practices, qualifiers and that will only help us.”
The four signings include freshmen Conner McCall, Jack Mulligan, Beau Petersen and Patrick Raupp. Each was ranked within the top-10 in their respective state.
Last season, according to the American Junior Golf Association, Mulligan was the top-ranked junior golfer in Illinois, McCall was the sixth-best junior golfer in Illinois, Raupp was the seventh-ranked golfer in Illinois and Petersen was the second-ranked golfer in Nebraska.
Despite the additions, the Huskies lost three golfers from last season. Junior Ian Bruchhauser transferred to Saint Mary’s College of California, former Huskie Josh Kirkham graduated and former Huskie Zach Place moved on to compete professionally.
Place grew to be a leader on the team after competing in 41 tournaments across five seasons as a Huskie. Place completed his tenure spending two years as a captain.
“I had the opportunity to coach him for his last four years of college golf and he competed for us for five years,” Carlson said. “Losing Zach is losing the locker room atmosphere, the one who everyone wants to practice with. When he went and competed, he competed at a very high level.”
Senior Ben Sluzas enters the season as the Huskies’ number-one golfer.
Sluzas averaged 72.12 strokes per round last season which was the best on the team. Sluzas also shared the team’s lowest round score of the season after shooting a 66 in the third round of the VCU Shootout last fall.
“Ben Sluzas will be our only captain on the team,” Carlson said. “He will be the one that we look to lead us into every environment that maybe the younger guys are going to face this year for the first time.”
NIU also retained senior Felix Krammer, NIU’s second-best golfer. Krammer averaged 72.88 strokes per round – second on team – and earned a top-five placement at the Badger Invitational last fall. Krammer also had a successful summer, winning two individual tournaments.
“Felix had an outstanding summer in Germany, winning two individual events over there,” Carlson said. “He played very solid for us throughout the entire last year, but he made big strides.”
Although the Huskies’ third golfer remains unclear, a candidate to look out for could be sophomore Craig Long II. Long finished last season inconsistently. Long had NIU’s third-worst stroke average, but also tied for the team’s best round score.
During the offseason, Long qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship. Long punched his ticket to the championship shooting a 64 at qualifiers – two strokes under his best at NIU.
“Craig shot 64 to win a qualifier for the US amateur and then competed at the US amateur just last week,” Carlson said. “Mentally, he has made the biggest strides.”
Senior Patrick Bruminhent is another golfer to look out for. Bruminhent did not compete within the team’s starting lineup last season but competed in three tournaments individually. He left last season with a 74.89 stroke average.
Petersen is a freshman golfer to watch out for. In June, Petersen won the Nebraska Junior Amateur Championship for the second consecutive year.
“Beau Petersen is as heralded as a junior golfer that NIU has ever recruited,” Carlson said. “Being the top-ranked player in the state of Nebraska, in his class, he is going to be someone that I think will step right in and even fight for the number one spot on our team.”
The Huskies tee off at the Island Resort Intercollegiate in an all-day event starting Sunday and ending Monday at Sage Run Golf Club in Bark River, Michigan. Live stats will be available through Scoreboard.
