Rutgers University
Big Ten Championships
Men's Golf Set to Compete in First-Ever Big Ten Championships in Galloway, N.J.
Apr 24 | Men's Golf
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - For the first time in Big Ten Conference history, the Men's Golf Championships will be held in New Jersey in 2023.
Galloway National will host the Championships, which begin this Friday, April 28th through Sunday, April 30th. It is free to attend and spectators are encouraged to come out and support the Rutgers men's golf program. The Scarlet Knights will look to make thier push for the postseason as they compete against their conference foes starting with a tee time of 9:40 a.m on Friday morning.
"It's certianly exciting and obviously we live in a very rich state of golf here in New Jersey," head coach Rob Shutte said. "To be competing in the Big Ten Conference for a number of years now and to welcome everyone to our state which is filled with golf history is exciting."
"I think they are going to do an awesome job of setting it up at Galloway," Shutte added. "I expect us to prepare really well and compete really hard. That's kind of been our focus. Golf is a hard game and I expect our guys to go in as prepared as anyone on this golf course. If we do those things we are going to have a lot of success. I know we can play with anybody if we prepare and compete hard."
Shutte is very famility with the course being connected with the club for a number of years.
"It's fun to be able to come in and have a chance for the postseason if we play well," Shutte said. "It's a play-in situation for us and we get to drive down and play golf by the beach. I hope we can get as many Rutgers folks out there and support our guys. It's been fun to see the support for our program continue to rise higher and higher and this week presents another opportunity to tee it up."
Senior captain Xavier Marcoux is excited to show off some off the New Jerseygrit down in Galloway. The weather forecast is expecting rain for all three days of the tournament, but the upperclassman is ready for the challenge.
"This is such a great opportunity to Rutgers golf," Marcoux said. "I want to be as prepared as anyone. It's really exciting to have our home support out there because we're always traveling. We're all really prepared and we are emphasizing being ready for the grind. The weather is going to be a challenge and we have to be ready for whatever Mother Nature is going to throw out at us. We are going to embrace the challenges that present themselves."
Fellow team captain Luke Wells is excited for the home game and said he'd love to see the Rutgers Riot Squad down in Galloway.
"This is as close as we will get to a home game," Wells said. "It'll be great to see a lot of Scarlet out there. I want to defend our home turf and our goal is to go win it. The goal for me and the team is to have a chance to be in the running on the back nine on Sunday. That would make it a successful week."
The team has had a great stretch of success as of late. Rutgers men's golf earned a sixth place finish out of 13 teams at the Boilermaker Invitational hosted by Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Scarlet Knights were led by Wells who had his career best finish as a Scarlet Knight to close out the year. Wells finished a strong weekend in a tie for tenth place. The veteran captain shot an impressive 69 (-3) in the first round. The Springfield, Ohio native closed out the weekend with scores of 68 (-4) and 72 (E) in rounds two and three. Individually, three Scarlet Knights placed in the top 30 of the two-day invitational.
It was a historic week in Columbia, MO as Rutgers men's golf earned a fifth-place finish at the Tiger Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday out of 14 teams hosted by Missouri. Sophomore Weston Jones earned his best individual finish as a Scarlet Knight, tied for 12th with total score of -8. Jones opened the day with an impressive first round of 65 (-7) finishing in second place after round 1. The sophomore's 17 birdies across three rounds fueled his career-best finish.
As a team, Rutgers tied the program record for relation to par over 54 holes, set just earlier this spring at the Colleton River Collegiate (-25).
