ST. SIMON'S ISLAND, Ga. – The Rutgers men's golf program hosted the second-consecutive Johnnie O event at Sea Island this past weekend and it was a huge success. RU finished in seventh place at the event but had a win against the best program in the Big Ten Conference in Illinois and played host to many successful golf programs around the nation.
Head coach
Rob Shutte ran the event and is looking forward to continuing to put Rutgers men's golf on the national scale and there's no better way to showcase the success of the program than the Johnnie-O.
"When you see the Haskins Award show up, which is the most prestigious college golf award and you see the signage that's out there, and you've got a big brand like Johnnie-O behind the event and the quality of the teams that show up, it's great for Rutgers to be on that stage," Shutte said. "To be highlighted as a program hosting a first-class tournament at a first-class venue with a first-class title sponsor, it speaks to what we are as a program. We're out there on the best stage, playing with the best teams and producing a really well-run tournament. It's great to hear the feedback from the student-athletes, coaches, and parents about the experience they all had, so it certainly makes you motivated to do it again and do it even better next year."
As a team Rutgers shot a -7 in three rounds. Many of RU's upperclassmen and leaders showed out stellar in the event in their individual performances.
Weston Jones and
Rhett Sellers led the way for the Scarlet Knights both tying for 19
th place shooting 2-under for the week. This is Rutgers fourth straight top-10 finish to start the spring. Sellers, the upperclassmen from Texas enjoyed achieving one of Shutte's goals of finishing in front of the Fighting Illini, who finished -4 as a team.
"I got off to a slow start. I think I shot a 74 in the first round, but I backed it up with a 68 so that gave me some momentum going into Tuesday," Sellers said. "I don't remember if we were ahead of Illinois going into Tuesday or not, but we knew we were right there. It's always been Coach's goal to beat Illinois at one of these events if not the Big Ten Championship. We all had that mindset going in just because he has cemented that goal into us through him. I think we all knew what we were trying to do. We all played solid on the last day to make the move. Just to see all the hard work paying off, especially for Coach Shutte. I think he got tears in his eyes talking about beating Illinois for the first time. It was nice to finally get that done for him and for us."
In an impressive field of opponents, Rutgers beat out three teams currently ranked ahead of them, including No. 16 Illinois and Johnnie-O defending champion Kansas State.
Jones led the team with 40 pars, tied for second-best among all the participants. Sellers had the best round for Rutgers shooting 68 in round two, thanks to six birdies in that round and 12 overall, a team-high.
Captain
Xavier Marcoux finished under par once again shooting 215 (-1) good for a 26th-place tie. Marcoux has seen the program's rise over the last four seasons and is thrilled to see RU continue to raise it's prominence on the national scale.
"The Johnnie-O has been a big success the last two years and everyone that I've talked to on other teams has loved it," Marcoux said. "Coach Shutte does an awesome job they worked their butt off, and I think it'll only get better for years to come. It's just second to none. We've had a lot of really strong teams like Texas and Illinois and others where we get to go and compete against some of the best teams in Division I. It's a great opportunity for us and we always take advantage of it."
Birthday boy and fellow captain
Luke Wells had a great end to his day. After teeing off on 10 to start the morning, he ended his round with a birdie on 8 and an eagle on 9 to put him at 1-under for the day.
Weston Jones also had an eagle on hole 15 in the third round.
In his final season as a Scarlet Knight Wells is really looking forward to RU having a real shot to compete for a win at the Big Ten Championships on April 27-28 in Columbus, Ohio. RU has one final regular season event before that in the Tiger Invitational in Missouri on April 7-8. To contend in the Big Ten Tournament is something Wells and his teammates have been building toward over the last few seasons.
"I think it's just going to take all five guys that week just to be hyper-focused," Wells said. "Our players have to be ready for the moment and not let the moment get too big and just go play golf. We know how to play, we've all played well in tournaments this year, we've all had top-20 finishes, a lot of us have had top-10 finishes. If we can get three out of four guys, or four out of five guys in the top-15. It's going to be a very special week and it's going to give us a great run."
Shutte echoed the message of his players and had big goals in mind. He looks for this squad to potentially be the first team at Rutgers to make the NCAA's in over 20 years. RU last made the NCAA's in 2004.
"The college golf landscape has changed so much even since that point. We have 306 Division I teams," Shutte said. "The growth of the game is sky-high. The challenges to get to NCAA's as a northeast program is not easy. We have three guys who are graduating this year that have a huge impact on the program, Luke, Xavier, and Rhett. For them to finish off and to have that on their resume that they were able to get us over the hump for that first one would be special for them especially putting all those years into the program. If we don't get there, they're leaving their mark but we're right on the bubble so its exciting to have a chance as we play out the last two."
"That's the reason I came here," Marcoux added. "I probably could've gone to a program that was more established but the challenge and being the guy that led the team to the postseason for the first time in 20 years would be cool. I embrace that challenge, and a lot of our guys do too. We like being the underdog and we like being overlooked. If we can do something that no one else has ever done would be special for all of us, and that's what we are all working towards."
The Johnnie-O at Sea Island: Final Results
March 12
th, 2024
Sea Island Resort - Plantation Course
Par 72 | 7,060 Yards
Field: Rutgers, Augusta, Cincinnati, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas St, Marquette, Michigan St, Minnesota, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas, and North Carolina - Greensboro
* – Competed as individual
