Ohio State
B1G Match Play
Ohio State Splits a Pair on Day 1 of B1G Match Play
2/5/2021 6:37:00 PM | Men's Golf
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men's golf team split a pair of matches on the opening day of the 2021 Big Ten Match Play Championship on Friday at the Hammock Beach Ocean Course in Palm Coast, Fla.
The Buckeyes dropped their opening match 4.5-0.5 against Indiana as freshman Adam Wallin claimed the lone half point. In the afternoon, the Buckeyes bounced-back with a solid 3-2 win over Nebraska behind three convincing victories.
Ohio State will take on Maryland in Saturday's morning round and will conclude the event against Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. The Terrapins also split their Friday matches while Rutgers went 0-2.
Indiana Match
Adam Wallin made his Buckeye debut on Friday and secured the team's only half point in the morning match. Wallin was 2 down through nine and won holes 18 and 1 to even the match. He lost No. 2 but won No. 6 to again pull even with Ethan Shepard. The two would then halve the final two holes to halve the match.
Elis Svard, who also made his Buckeye debut on Friday, fell as much as 5 down early in the match and battled back to just 2 down but ultimately lost 3&2. Patrick Schmuecking played a tight match with Clay Merchant as neither side was able to take more than a 1up lead until Merchant won the 17th hole of the match to win 2&1.
Felix Kvarnstrom was 3 down through 13 holes before rallying to win three holes in a row against Harry Reynolds. But Reynolds would win the final two holes to take the match 2up. Grant Engle lost his match with Drew Salyers 3&1.
Nebraska Match
The afternoon match wasn't as close down the stretch. Svard in the No. 1 match had a nice bounce-back win over Branden Meyer. He won the fifth hole and held the lead the rest of the way in a 4&2 victory. Kvarnstrom also rebounded with a 4&2 victory over Caleb Badura. He was 2 down through six holes but then won six of the next 10 to take control and close out the match.
The third win came from sophomore Jackson Chandler who rolled past Gentry Scheve 5&3 in his only match of the day.
Nebraska had a pair of comfortable wins as well as Schmuecking fell 5&4 to Tom Westenberger and Engle dropped his match 4&2 to Jack Lundin.
Jones Cup Invitational
Ohio State freshman Maxwell Moldovan is not with the team in Florida because he was invited to play in the prestigious Jones Cup at the Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga. Just 18 players in the 84-player field broke par in the opening round and Moldovan was one of them. The Uniontown, Ohio native carded three birdies and an eagle in his round of 1-under 71. He is currently tied for 11th. Alex Fitzpatrick leads the way after an opening round 64.
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