Buckeyes Bound for Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 21, 2016
RELATED INFO
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State University men’s golf team begins postseason play Friday (April 22) morning at the Big Ten Championship in Newburgh, Ind., at the Victoria National Golf Club. A tape-delayed broadcast of the event will be aired by Big Ten Network on Sunday, May at noon ET.
TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
Name: 2016 Big Ten Championships
Live Scoring: Golfstat
Course: Victoria National Golf Course (Newburgh, Ind.)
Yardage: 7,465 yards — Par 72
Format: Play 5, count 4 — 54 holes
Schedule of Play:
Round 1 (Friday, April 22) | Tee times off of Holes No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET
Round 2 (Saturday, April 23) | Tee times off of Holes No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET
Final Round (Sunday, April 24) | Tee times off of Holes No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 8 a.m. CT/9 a.m. ET
Field (14 teams):
*Top-50 Golfstat/Golfweek rankings listed
No. 3/2 Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
No. 42/46 Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern Ohio State
No. 31/30 Penn State
No. 32/31 Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin
BUCKEYE LINEUP
1 — Will Grimmer — Fr. (73.62 avg; 26 rounds)
2 — Tee-k Kelly — Sr. (73.76 avg; 29 rounds)
3 — Clark Engle — Jr. (73.54 avg; 26 rounds)
4 — Josh Wick — r-So. (75.50 avg; 20 rounds)
5 — Grant Weaver — r-Sr. (76.76 avg; 17 rounds)
VIDEO: ‘Teeing It Up’ with Grant Weaver & Tee-k Kelly https://t.co/lizsHqZSpg
— Ohio State M Golf (@OhioState_MGOLF) April 21, 2016
WEATHER FORECAST
Cloudy skies and manageable temperatures are in the Weather Channel forecast with a slight chance of rain for Day One of competition.
LINEUP PILLARS
Tee-k Kelly has manned a slot in the Buckeye lineup for every tournament during the 2015-16 campaign, logging 29 rounds thus far. The senior from Illinois has contributed 24.5 scores to the team tally and has registered 11 rounds at or below par, including four rounds dipping down into the 60s. Clark Engle and Will Grimmer have each missed just one event apiece, both donning the Scarlet & Gray for 26 rounds.
TOP-10 TALLIES
One or more Buckeyes have cracked the individual top-10 in eight of 10 events, including an individual medalist performance from Tee-k Kelly in the Lone Star Invitational. Kelly, Clark Engle, Will Grimmer and Josh Wick have all done so multiple times:
Will Grimmer (T-10th) — The Carmel Cup, Sept. 4-6 | (T-8th) — Tiger Invitational, March 6-8
Tee-k Kelly (T-6th) — Inverness Intercollegiate, Sept. 21-22 | (1st) Lone Star Invitational, March 21-22
Clark Engle (T-9th) — Windon Memorial, Sept. 27-28 | (T-5th) — Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational, Oct. 4-6 | (9th) — Aggie Invitational, April 2-3
Josh Wick (T-9th) — Windon Memorial, Sept. 27-28 | (T-4th) — Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, April 9-10
WICK, BUCKEYES PLACE FOURTH IN HOME TOURNAMENT
All four team tally contributors for Ohio State placed inside the top-20 individually, resulting in a fourth place team standing in the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate. The top Buckeye performer was competing as an individual, however, as Josh Wick recorded the highest finish of his collegiate career in a tie for fourth overall in the 84-player field.
ENGLE BACK INSIDE THE TOP-10 AT THE AGGIE INVITATIONAL
Clark Engle returned to the Buckeye lineup for the Aggie Invitational (Apr. 2-3), reaching familiar ground inside the individual leaderboard top-10. His most recent of nine career top-10 finishes came in the form of a ninth place showing at the 80-player Aggie Invitational.
Ohio State tied No. 49 Kent State for sixth place overall at 20-over (884) and ahead of No. 27 Texas A&M (+24), No. 15 Oklahoma (+32), No. 36 Texas Tech (+48), and most importantly, “That Team Up North” (+23). The Buckeyes have posted their lowest score in the final round for all three Spring tournaments thus far.
Tee-k Kelly CROWNED CHAMPION AT THE LONE STAR INVITATIONAL
Tee-k Kelly outplayed 99 competitors to seize medalist honors at the 2016 Lone Star Invitational (March 21-22). He opened the event dipping four strokes under par in Round One before maintaining his early edge throughout by shooting 1-under the rest of the way (68-72-71; -5). Kelly distanced himself from the field by five strokes overall as runner-up Mario Carmona of Rice University finished even par. In last season’s Lone Star Invitational, he cracked the top-10 in a seventh place showing.
BUCKEYES FINISH WITH A FLURRY AT THE TIGER INVITATIONAL
Ohio State vaulted itself into the upper half of 2016 Tiger Invitational (March 6-8) on the final day by recording the fifth-lowest round total of the entire competition. An even-par 288 trimmed 17 strokes off the previous day’s tally and resulted in a ninth-place showing in the 18-team field.
Will Grimmer posted the best finish of his young career, earning a share of eighth place in the 96-player competition. It marked the second top-10 and third top-15 effort during his freshman campaign. Grimmer dropped in five birdies in round three to close out his week at even par (72-74-70).
Tee-k Kelly was huge in the Buckeyes’ late surge as well, registering a 3-under 69 on Tuesday. He utilized four birdies and an eagle en route to one of just 15 rounds dipping into the 60s.
GRIMMER MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT IN COLUMBUS
Freshman Will Grimmer jumped right into the No. 1 slot of Ohio State’s lineup for the first tournament of the season and has competed in 21 of 24 team rounds played. His 73.71 stroke average ranks second on the team and he owns a pair of top-10 individual finishes.
Grimmer was ranked top-20 nationally in Junior Golf and qualified for the 2014 U.S. Open at the ripe age of 17 years old. More recently, Grimmer out-performed nearly 300 competitors to advance to the Round of 32 at the 2015 U.S. Amateur Championship.
RAMIREZ LEADS BUCKEYES IN COLLEGIATE DEBUT
Caleb Ramirez, making his Buckeye debut, carded an even-par 72 in the final round of the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational (Oct. 18-20) to earn a share of 20th place overall in the 75-player field. The Californian freshman returned to the lineup for the Lone Star Invitational and is back again at the Aggie Invitational.
ALL-BIG TEN PERFORMER BACK FOR JUNIOR SEASON
Clark Engle picked up All-Big Ten Second Team accolades a year ago, rising as high as No. 71 in the Golfweek individual national rankings. The Springfield, Ohio native was selected to the PING All-Midwest Region squad as well, determined by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN
First-year head coach Jay Moseley officially took over control of the Buckeye Men’s Golf program on July 9 after lifting Kennesaw State into a top-25 national program. He guided the Owls to five consecutive NCAA postseason appearances, including a pair of trips to the NCAA Championships. Moseley’s first hire at Ohio State was adding former Buckeye student-athlete Brad Smith as his assistant coach. Smith earned All-Big Ten honors while donning the Scarlet & Gray in 2011.
