Golf heads to California for The Prestige

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's golf team continues its season on Feb. 15-17 at The Prestige in La Quinta, California at PGA West – Norman Course.

UC Davis and Stanford will host the event.

THE EVENT
Marquette will be the lone BIG EAST Conference representative and be joined by fellow Midwestern squads Northwestern and Iowa State. The practice round begins on Sunday with official match play beginning at Monday morning at 9 a.m. CT.

The team's individual competitors, Scott Schlader and Connor Brown, will be competing at Coral Mountain Golf Club in a separate event in La Quinta. Those rounds also begin on Monday with the first tee times starting at 10:30 a.m. CT.

The Prestige runs through Wednesday and the full schedule will be released after the earlier rounds are completed with final round leaders teeing off in the afternoon. Live scoring updates can be found online through Golfstat.

THE COURSE
The PGA West – Norman Course is home to 2,000 acres of golf with 109 holes on a total of six courses. They have hosted events like the PGA Tour, LPGA, and the NCAA tournament. All the courses feature spectacular mountain views as part of the greater Palm Springs area.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Head coach Steve Bailey: "Our first stroke play tournament in 12 months, to say we are excited is an understatement. I'm proud of the way our guys have grown over the past year, choosing not to dwell on what was taken away. They put their energy into strengthening our team culture and that optimism has been contagious. This is our team's first trip to the California desert. The Prestige has a rich history and boasts one of the strongest fields in collegiate golf. Nice to have Coach (Chris) Williams on our side, he played in this event all four years while at Washington, highlighted by a second and sixth place finish."

MARQUETTE'S LINEUP
The Prestige: Hunter Eichhorn, Tyler Leach, Nicolás Evangelio, Aidan Lafferty, Josh Robinson
Individuals: Connor Brown, Scott Schlader

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 3-0 finish at BIG EAST Match Play on Feb. at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida on Feb. 1-2.

Transfer Nicolás Evangelio picked up a pair of victories to start his Marquette career in the No. 3 spot, while fellow newcomer, freshman Scott Schlader, won two of his three matchups at the six spot.

Redshirt sophomore Tyler Leach was an unblemished 3-0 in match play to start the season and is coming off an impressive true sophomore campaign in 2019-20 in which he captured his first career NCAA stroke-play win at the 2019 Crooked Stick Invitational.

UP NEXT
Marquette will have a month off before heading to Palm City, Florida for the Valspar Collegiate at the Floridian Golf Club. The event will be hosted by the University of Houston.

Keep up with the Marquette men's golf program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteMGolf) and Instagram (@MarquetteMGolf) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteMGolf).