Saturday, April 9
West Lafayette, Ind.
Rutgers
at
Boilermaker Invitational
Xavier Marcoux Leads Men’s Golf to 4th Place Finish at Boilermaker Invitational, Looks Ahead to Ohio State
Apr 13 | Men's Golf
The men's golf team had their best finish of the spring when the Scarlet Knights finished in the top four as a team at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette this past weekend.
Rutgers shot a +26 overall on the tournament which was tied with Illinois State for a fourth-place finish behind Illinois (-10), Purdue (-2), Eastern Michigan (+25).
Junior captain Xavier Marcoux led the squad as he finished in sixth place and led the team with one of his best performances of the season. Marcoux shot a 214 through three rounds, Weston Jones shot a 218 and Luke Wells shot a 221.
"We definitely had to fight through some tough conditions," Marcoux said. "I think when we teed off on the first day it was like 33 degrees. Whoever could have the best attitude going through that weather and then just trying to take advantage of whenever the winds died down you could find some birdies. I thought I did well at that. I just tried to battle through the first round and I had my best day in the second round. The final round it was really windy and I was in the final group, so it was really great to feel that pressure on me."
The conditions in West Lafayette were windy and rough all weekend, but the Concord, Mass. native felt that his background playing in cold conditions played to his advantage.
"Growing up in Massachusetts I've played in hurricanes," Marcoux laughed. "You kind of learn how to play in that stuff and use it to your advantage. You know that 50 percent of the field is just going to quit in those conditions since you don't want to be there playing in that weather. You just have to focus and beat the other half out."
Marcoux enjoyed seeing the progress of his teammates throughout the weekend.
"It felt really good," Marcoux said. "I feel like we saw a lot of progress. Especially Weston (Jones) played really solid. We proved that we could kind of hang with Illinois and Purdue for two rounds which are probably the two best programs in the Big Ten."
"One of the reasons why I came to Rutgers was for the opportunity to get reps at a young age," Marcoux said. "Since we are so young a lot of the guys are getting a lot of practice and learning with every experience they get. Hopefully with all of these experiences we will start to see it continue to payoff for us."
Through two days Rutgers was right there with the best teams of the tournament. Illinois had the leader in the tournament Adrien Dumont de Chassart who shot a 204.
"When Coach Shutte recruited me, he said our goal is to beat Illinois, "Marcoux said. "If we could be Illinois we could be anyone in the country."
The men's golf team will return to action on Saturday April 23 at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
"We're excited to get back out there against Ohio State in a few weeks," Marcoux said. "That's a really good golf course and it will give us one more opportunity to keep the momentum going into the Big Ten Tournament because at this point we are going to have to win that to make regionals."
Rutgers shot a +26 overall on the tournament which was tied with Illinois State for a fourth-place finish behind Illinois (-10), Purdue (-2), Eastern Michigan (+25).
Junior captain Xavier Marcoux led the squad as he finished in sixth place and led the team with one of his best performances of the season. Marcoux shot a 214 through three rounds, Weston Jones shot a 218 and Luke Wells shot a 221.
"We definitely had to fight through some tough conditions," Marcoux said. "I think when we teed off on the first day it was like 33 degrees. Whoever could have the best attitude going through that weather and then just trying to take advantage of whenever the winds died down you could find some birdies. I thought I did well at that. I just tried to battle through the first round and I had my best day in the second round. The final round it was really windy and I was in the final group, so it was really great to feel that pressure on me."
The conditions in West Lafayette were windy and rough all weekend, but the Concord, Mass. native felt that his background playing in cold conditions played to his advantage.
"Growing up in Massachusetts I've played in hurricanes," Marcoux laughed. "You kind of learn how to play in that stuff and use it to your advantage. You know that 50 percent of the field is just going to quit in those conditions since you don't want to be there playing in that weather. You just have to focus and beat the other half out."
Marcoux enjoyed seeing the progress of his teammates throughout the weekend.
"It felt really good," Marcoux said. "I feel like we saw a lot of progress. Especially Weston (Jones) played really solid. We proved that we could kind of hang with Illinois and Purdue for two rounds which are probably the two best programs in the Big Ten."
Marcoux credited Rutgers for giving him the opportunity to get reps at a young age and the upperclassmen looks forward to seeing it pay dividends for the rest of his teammates going forward.Back to back birds for the freshman Weston Jones 🐦✌️#JerseyJuice🥤 #GoRU⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Ef7tmeB3Ea
— Rutgers Mens Golf (@RUMensGolf) April 9, 2022
"One of the reasons why I came to Rutgers was for the opportunity to get reps at a young age," Marcoux said. "Since we are so young a lot of the guys are getting a lot of practice and learning with every experience they get. Hopefully with all of these experiences we will start to see it continue to payoff for us."
Rounds 1 & 2 ✅
— Rutgers Mens Golf (@RUMensGolf) April 10, 2022
The Knights will enter tomorrow's final round in 3rd place as a team after rounds of 290 (+6) and 285 (+1) 🔨
Junior captain @xmarcoux29 sits in T4th place individually following a second round 68 (-3) 🔥 #JerseyJuice🥤 #GoRU⚔️ pic.twitter.com/oUojLiU0zy
Through two days Rutgers was right there with the best teams of the tournament. Illinois had the leader in the tournament Adrien Dumont de Chassart who shot a 204.
"When Coach Shutte recruited me, he said our goal is to beat Illinois, "Marcoux said. "If we could be Illinois we could be anyone in the country."
The men's golf team will return to action on Saturday April 23 at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
"We're excited to get back out there against Ohio State in a few weeks," Marcoux said. "That's a really good golf course and it will give us one more opportunity to keep the momentum going into the Big Ten Tournament because at this point we are going to have to win that to make regionals."
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