Golf heads to Sunset Ridge for Windon Memorial Classic

Live Scoring | Marquette Stats (PDF) | Sunset Ridge CC

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's golf team continues its fall campaign on Monday, Sept. 25 and Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Illinois for the 2023 Windon Memorial Classic.

Live scoring will be available through Golfstat.

THE EVENT
The Windon Memorial Classic began in 1993 and has been a recent mainstay in Marquette's fall schedule due to its proximity to MU's Milwaukee campus, elite courses and talented competition. In addition to Marquette, the 15-team field includes East Tennessee State, Indiana, Kent State, Little Rock, Memphis, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Florida, Notre Dame, Purdue, South Florida, UC Davis, Wisconsin and tournament-host Northwestern.

The Golden Eagles begin first round action on Monday with an 8:30 a.m shotgun start. Second round action will commence at roughly 1:30 p.m. on Monday after the conclusion of the first round. Tuesday's third round pairings will be announced Monday night and tee times will begin at 8 a.m.

"We are excited to tee it up at Sunset Ridge," Marquette head coach Steve Bailey said. "The Windon is known for having a very strong field on a world-class golf course and this week certainly aligns with the history."

Former MU All-American Hunter Eichhorn claimed medalist honors at the event in 2019 after shooting a 6-under 207 at Conway Farms. The then-junior shot a 6-under 65 with eight birdies and a bogey-free 5-under 66 through the first two rounds. The Golden Eagles also won the Windon Memorial as a team back in 2018 behind a third-place finish from Oliver Farrell at 7-under par. In 2007 at Lake Shore, MU All-American Mike Van Sickle shared medalist honors with a 7-under 206.

Past winners and runners-up of the tournament include Tiger Woods, Casey Martin, Luke Donald, Hunter Mahan, Scott Harington and Ben Curtis.

THE COURSE
Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Illinois hosts the Windon Memorial Classic for the first time in 2023. The club was founded in 1923 and celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2018 by hosting the Western Amateur. In addition to that event, the club has played host to the 1935 Women's Western Open, the 1972 Western Open, and most recently, the 2022 Women's Western Amateur.

The course will play as a par 71 at a total of 6,754 yards.

MARQUETTE LINEUP
1. Max Lyons
2. Aidan Lafferty
3. Bhoom Sima-Aree
4. Josh Robinson
5. Mason Schmidtke
Ind.: Will Hemauer

The Golden Eagles placed placed fourth out of 14 teams at their last event, the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 10-11 at Windsong Farm in Independence, Minnesota. Max Lyons posted the fifth top-10 finish of his career, tying for sixth with a 2-under 211 (69-70-72) to lead the Golden Eagles. Lyons has led MU at each of its first two events and has carded par-or-better scores in four of his six rounds this fall. The Phoenix native tied for the team lead at last year's Windon with Tyler Leach at Evanston Golf Club with a 1-over 211 as the Golden Eagles tied for fourth.

"I feel so much of the early success has stemmed from our depth and experience," Bailey said. "This will be our third different lineup in as many events, along with three of the four mainstays being fifth-year seniors and the other a junior."

Graduate students Josh Robinson and Bhoom Sima-Aree have each played in the Windon Memorial twice previously, while Aidan Lafferty and Patrick Adler each played once.

Lafferty jumps into the No. 2 spot in the MU lineup this week after consecutive top-two finishes on the squad at the Marquette Intercollegiate and Gopher Invitational to begin the year. He's shown greater consistency this fall with scores near par in all six rounds.

Mason Schmidtke, a freshman from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, played well in weekly qualifying and earned a top-22 finish as an individual at his first collegiate event, the Marquette Intercollegiate.

Previous Windon Memorial Classic Results (team finish):

Max Lyons
2021: T74 (4th) +10 (68-76-79—223)
2022: T9 (T-1st) +1 (68-69-74—211)

Aidan Lafferty
2021: 80 (5th) +12 (75-73-77—225)

Bhoom Sima-Aree
2019: T48 (4th) +9 (74-75-73—222)
2022: T33 (4th) +3 (76-67-73—216)

Josh Robinson
2019: T68 (5th) +18 (75-75-81—231)
2022: T59 (5th) +13 (75-71-77—223)

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