llinois State Golf Team Rallies to Tie for Fourth at Badger Invitational
Written by Noah Simon on October 2, 2024
Image Courtesy of Redbird Athletics
NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State Redbird Golf team traveled to the University of Wisconsin this weekend to play in the Badger Invitational. The Redbirds finished the third and final round of the tournament with a score of 299 (+11), leaving the team with a finishing score of 870 (+6) through the 54-hole tournament, tied for fourth place overall with Memphis and Washington State. The Redbirds shot respective rounds of 282 (-6) and 289 (+1) on days one and two of the tournament combined.
After strong starts by redshirt junior TJ Barger, he started the final round on Tuesday in a tie for fourth spot, while junior Pietro Pontiggia sat in a tie for 17th. Will Troy entered the final round tied for 32nd, while Alex McCulla bounded back in round two to finish tied for 38th heading into the final round.
Overall, the Redbirds were led by Redshirt Junior TJ Barger, who finished the tournament in a tie for fourth place with a score of 210 (-6), three strokes of the lead. Barger started strong to begin the event, turning in a score of 69 (-3) on Saturday, with 5 birdies, 11 pars, and two bogeys. This trend continued for him the following day, fishing the round at two under par 70 with seven birdies. An 8 (+3) on hole number 9 prevented him from beating his score from the previous day. His last-day score of 71 (-1) put him into fourth place overall for the tournament, with a score of 210 (-6), only 3 shots behind the winner, Sam Renner from Washington State.
Senior Alex McCulla and Junior Pietro Pontiggia finished the tournament tied for 25th with a 54-hole score of 220 (+4). McCalla struggled to start the tournament, shooting a score of 78 (+6) on day one before bouncing back with an impressive round of 69 (-3) on day two. His final round score was one over par 71. Pontiggia shot a 69 (-3) in his opening round with a +3 on hole number eight, stopping him from shooting the lowest single-round score for the Redbirds. He followed that up with a two-over-par 74 score in round two and a 77 (+5) in round 3.
Graduate student Will Troy and junior Francis Bautista ended up finishing tied for 45th overall with a 54-hole score of 225 (+9). Bautista shot a combined 11 over par through the first two rounds before finishing out strong with a 70 (-2) in the final round. Troy started the tournament out with a 70 (-2) on Saturday, before struggling a little bit in rounds 2 and 3 with scores of 76 (+4) and 79 (+7).
The final Redbird, Freshman Aiden Cudney, finishes the tournament in 69th place, posting a score of 230 (+14) through 54 holes. He shot two over 72, followed by consecutive rounds of 78 (+6) to finish out Illinois State’s action at the Badger Invitational.
The Redbirds only trailed the winners, Northern Illinois, who shot 855 (-9) through 54 holes, followed by second-placed Long Beach State and the University of Wisconsin at 858 (-6). Among the schools trailing Illinois State are the University of Nebraska (873), Minnesota (875), Southern Mississippi (877), Ball State (892), and South Dakota State (892).
The Redbird’s next and final outing of the season will take place on October 21-23 at the Leadership Golf Collegiate Championship at the Bayonet/Black Horses Golf Course hosted in Monterey, California.
