Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Puerto Rico Classic
Spring Golf Opens at Puerto Rico Classic
2/15/2019 11:10:00āÆAM | Men's Golf
Marquette returns to play following a four-month break from regular season competition
A four-month break from regular season competition ends for Marquette on Sunday, when play opens up in the 27th annual Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue at Rio Mar Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
THE EVENT
The PRC includes three days of 54-hole play, Sunday through Tuesday (Feb. 17-19) at Rio Mar C.C. (Par 72, 6,902 yards).Ā The 15-team field includes No. 4 (Bushnell/GCAA) Alabama, No. 12 Clemson, East Carolina, No. 18 Georgia, No. 5 Georgia Tech, Iowa, Maryland, Marquette, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina State, Ohio State, No. 9 Oklahoma, Purdue, UNCG and Virginia Tech.Ā Eight of the tournament's 15 teams, including Marquette (No. 31), rank in the Golfstat top 50.
Marquette Lineup: Hunter Eichhorn, Oliver Farrell, Matt Murlick, Tyler Leach, Austin Kendziorski
One of the premier tournaments in collegiate golf, the PRC welcomes the Golden Eagles for the second straight year.Ā MU finished 11th (294-289-300ā883) in playing the event for the first time in 2018 and Hunter Eichhorn tied for 17th with a 3-over-par 216 (74-69-73).Ā Past individual winners of the PRC include Stewart Cink (1995), Matt Kuchar (1998), Luke Donald (2000), Lucas Glover (2001) and Justin Thomas (2012).Ā Major champions Justin Leonard, David Duval and Bubba Watson are among past top-10 finishers in the event.
SPRING NOTES
To prepare for the second half of the season, Marquette hosted its annual Alumni tournament on Feb. 2, and played a single-day exhibition match against South Florida last Saturday (Feb. 9) at The Claw in Tampa.
In the Golfstat rankings released on Feb. 12, Marquette sits at No. 31 nationally.Ā Eichhorn is No. 59 with a team and BIG EAST-leading 71.27 scoring average, while Oliver Farrell is ranked 90th.Ā The Golfstat rankings are the official metric used in determining NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship regional selection and seeding.
Including Eichhorn, Farrell (second, 71.67), Matt Murlick (fourth, 73.20), Tyler Leach (fifth, 73.33) and Matthew Bachmann (seventh, 73.50) give MU five of the seven lowest scorers in the BIG EAST entering the spring.Ā Marquette is the only team in the conference with multiple wins this season, and a league-best 287.87 (-0.13) round average, more than seven strokes better than the eight other BIG EAST teams.
The PRC is the first of four regular season spring events for the Golden Eagles, leading up to the 2019 BIG EAST Championship at Callawassie Island G.C. April 26-28.
Players Mentioned
