Golf heads to Puerto Rico Classic Feb. 16-18

MILWAUKEE — The Marquette University men's golf team opens its spring slate on Feb. 16-18 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico at the Rio Mar Beach and Spa Resort's River Course in the 28th Puerto Rico Classic.

THE EVENT

The 15-team field features Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Clemson. Tennessee, Ole Miss, Purdue, Alabama, North Carolina State, Ohio State, East Carolina, Iowa, College of Charleston and Maryland. Six of the 15 are ranked in the GolfStat top-50, including No. 1 Oklahoma.

The 54-hole event begins Sunday with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Eastern time and includes 18 holes every day through Tuesday. The par-72 River Course will play at 6,902 yards.

THE COURSE

Making TIME's 2018 list of top-100 greatest places, the two courses (River and Ocean) were designed by Tom and George Fazio and Greg Norman. The river course, which opened in 2012, provides an amazing view of the El Yunque Rainforest, Mameyes River and Atlantic Ocean

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

Marquette head coach Steve Bailey on the fall season: "I was impressed with our individual play, having three individual titles in six fall events is an impressive feat. Hunter and Tyler really carried us this fall and if we are going to compete at an elite level, we will need stronger play from our entire team."

Bailey on the course and field in Puerto Rico: "This will be our third year in Puerto Rico, so fortunately we know the golf course. The course is on the coast and the winds can make for challenging conditions. If you drive it well, you will have several wedges into greens and hopefully than translates into birdies. The field is one of the tops in all of college golf. A great barometer for our team to kick off the spring."

What Bailey wants to accomplish early in the spring: "We've put a big emphasis this winter on embracing our core values and not just throwing words on a wall, but truly living out what we preach. Our goals are to show up every day with positive energy, strong self belief, be disciplined with our process and regardless of your game that particular day, be gritty and find a way to compete and score."

MARQUETTE'S LINEUP

Lineup: Hunter Eichhorn, Tyler Leach, Matt Murlick, Aidan Lafferty, Bhoom Sima-Aree
Individual: Matthew Bachmann

Coming off a four-month break in team play, the Golden Eagles last took 11th at the Hoakalei Invitational on Oct. 30, 2019. Junior Hunter Eichhorn (72-68-72—212), who finished in a tie for 14th place (4-under) led MU, followed by Freshman Aidan Lafferty (72-72-73—217) who tied for 40th place as MU's second finisher at 1-over par. In the latest GolfStat rankings, Marquette sits at 65.

Eichorn participated individually in two tournaments, the Sun Bowl All-America Classic and Patriot All-America Invitational, on Nov. 24-26 and Dec. 28-31, respectively. Eichorn tied for 26th, shooting 1-over 214 (70-69-75) in the Sun Bowl Classic and placed 30th in the Patriot Invitational, in which he shot 2-over par 212.

Senior Matthew Bachmann will compete individually for Marquette, with Tyler Leach, Matt Murlick, Aidan Lafferty, and Bhoom Sima-Aree rounding out the MU's lineup in addition to Eichorn.

UP NEXT

Following the trip to Puerto Rico, the team will have a month hiatus from competition before resuming the campaign on March 20-22 in the Linger Longer Invitational at the Golf Course at Great Waters in Eatonton, Georgia.