Northern Illinois men’s golf opened its season with an eleventh place finish in the Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms.

The Huskies were in 10th place following the first round of the day, posting a team score of 318. Defending champion Central Florida led the way through the opening 18 holes with a total of 301.

Senior Griffin Bauman posted the best score of the opening round for the Huskies, scoring a four-over par, 75, to be in a tie for 10th place individually.

At the end of play Saturday, NIU was in 11th position with a total score of 620 (+65). Indiana held the overall lead with a team score of 599 (+31).

“We started out playing poorly,” said golf coach Tom Porten. “We got ourselves in some difficultly really early on. When only one of the five guys start well, it’s hard to be there with the top team. We didn’t start well and didn’t end well, which was a lose-lose situation for us.”

Indiana would go on to win the Northern Intercollegiate by 15 strokes with a total score of 888. Denny McCarthy, of Maryland, would go on to have the best individual tournament with a total score of 216 (+3).

“Indiana is a top thirty program in the nation and is in the Big Ten, which is the best conference in the Midwest,” Porten said. “They knew the golf course and were patient; they waited for the time to attack and didn’t go for the risk reward shots. McCarthy was outstanding all weekend. He played a good first round but really attacked in the third round, when the conditions were better and prime for being attacked, and it certainly showed in the third round, when he shot a three under 68.”

At the end of round three the Huskies would end up in last place with a third round total of 315.

Bauman led the way for NIU with a third round 77 (+6) and had the best score for the Huskies overall in the tournament at 233 (+20) which was a top-30 finish individually.

“I played mediocre at best this weekend,” Bauman said. “I didn’t play consistent, I would hit it really good some holes, then I would have some where I would hit it really bad. There were times I would have a stretch of holes that I would play decent then I would have one really bad hole.”

Junior Shawn Foley and sophomore Nick Schiavi each finished the tournament with their best round of the 54-hole event. Foley finished the event with a 78, and Schiavi carded a final round 79,