Men’s golf finished 17 out of 18 this past weekend at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular in Florida.

The Huskies were +71 with a score of 935 in the tournament and finished one point away from the 16th place team, George Mason University. The top scoring team, Indiana, finished the tournament five over par with a total score of 869.

The Huskies were led by senior Kurtis Luedtke, who finished tied for 47th with a total score of 229 after 54 holes of play. Luedtke’s final score was the lowest for the Huskies in the tournament.

When asked about how he thought the team played, head coach Tom Porten said there is still work that needs to be done.

“Well, we’re disappointed,” Porten said. “We didn’t play our best this weekend. You’re never happy when you finish like we did.”

Finishing well was senior Bryce Emory, who shot a 77 to finish play on Sunday, which also matched his lowest score of the tournament. His final score of 233 was only four strokes behind Luedtke.

Sophomore Nick Schiavi finished play with a three-round total of 236 while senior Griffin Bauman also fared well, finishing three strokes behind Schiavi with a final score of 239.

While the Huskies finished in 17th, they were only a few missed putts away from finishing play higher. The Huskies finished only six strokes behind 12th place Morehead State and Connecticut.

Porten said one of the ways the team could have finished higher would have been by converting more on the green.

“We definitely need to work on our putting, we putted the ball too many times this weekend,” Porten said. “Across the board it was a struggle with the putter… [We need to] work better on our course management, being able to hit more fairways, and to hit the ball into better position on the golf course.”

For the Huskies to improve, they need to play better across the board. NIU and Porten will look to implement better putting and better positioning in order to improve the team going forward.

The Huskies and Porten will look to make these improvements before they travel to the Florida Atlantic’s Spring Break Invitational on March 29th.