Quick 9: Atypical Trophies II
Fall 2024
One of the best things about college golf is the sheer number of tournaments hosted around the country each season. Each one has its own unique style and array of atypical trophies and awards. Some will make excellent additions to trophy cases while others will adorn practice facility walls. All of them tell a story.
Won’t you join me for a picturesque quick 9?
*NOTE: underlined text provides a link to references or sites with more information
1A. BOILERMAKER CLASSIC [Sep 2-3, 2024]
The Purdue program had a busy Fall, hosting two tournaments at the beautiful Kampen-Cosler Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. Inscribed hammers serve as the iconic trophy for both events, so we’re putting them together into one split-fairway entry.
The Purdue women were first up with the Boilermaker Classic. They successfully defended home turf with a 14-stroke victory, the fourth tournament win in three years under Coach Zack Byrd. On the individual side, Natasha Kiel secured medalist honors by two strokes. The senior’s first collegiate win came in dramatic fashion after carding a hole-in-one on the 53rd hole.
1B. PURDUE FALL INVITATIONAL [Sep 22-23, 2024]
Up second for the Kampen-Cosler Course was the fourth playing of the men’s Purdue Fall Invite. For the second time, Indiana brought home the hammers, bettering the 54-hole team scoring record with -14/850 total. A week after earning co-medalist honors (lost in playoff) in the aptly named “Put Me In Coach” individual tournament run by Golfweek, Miami (OH)’s Michael Weber led his team to a runner-up finish as he earned medalist honors at -8/208. Probably a safe bet that his position in the lineup is secure for a little longer this season.
2. CARDINAL CUP [Sep 13-15, 2024]
Speaking of hitting instruments, if you’re going to have a tournament hosted in Louisville, then the trophy HAS to be a baseball bat! This year marked the 14th playing of the women’s Cardinal Cup, the first since 2019. Middle Tennessee had been lurking in the top 3 through the first two rounds, but took the lead in the opening holes of the 3rd round for an eventual 3 stroke victory. Western Kentucky’s Catie Craig finished at -3/213 for her fifth career medalist honors, one shy of the program record set by Mary Joiner.
3. SOUTHERN DUNES INVITATIONAL [Sep 9-10, 2024]
The Southern Dunes Invitational - hosted by USC and played at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes GC in Maricopa, Arizona - turned out to be the first team win for Mark Hankins as head coach of the Trojans. USC followed up a first round 279 with a spectacular -15/273 in the second round, eventually finishing -28/836 for a 7-stroke victory. Chris Bettencourt [Fresno St] won medalist honors playing as an individual with -13/203 total. It was an impressive victory by the freshman, made even more special by the fact it was his first collegiate tournament.
4. GMAC INVITATIONAL [Sep 22-24, 2024]
UAB hosted the Graeme McDowell “GMAC” Invitational, named after their star alum who won the 2002 Haskins Award and went on to become a U.S. Open champion. The event came out of the Shoal Creek Invitational which was called the “Shoal Creek Invitational hosted by Graeme McDowell” for the first time in 2012. Both Louisiana Monroe and North Alabama went on a tear in the closing holes of the final round, the former going 6-under in the final 3 holes while the latter was 7-under in the same stretch. Both teams finished the tournament at -30/834 to share the team title. UNA’s Xing Luo didn’t have to share medalist honors with anyone after back-to-back rounds of -6/66, finishing at -16/200 to win by two strokes over Niilo Maki-Petaja [La Tech] and ULM’s Louis Anceaux, who shot a program record -9/63 in the second round.
5. MASON RUDOLPH [Sep 20-22, 2024]
The legendary Mason Rudolph has two tournaments named in his honor, the women’s event played in the Fall and the men’s event in the Spring. The 4th ranked Texas Longhorns put together three rounds of -10 or better to finish -31/833, the third best score in team history. The win is the first under new head coach Laura Ianello. On the individual side, Miss State’s Avery Weed birdied the last three holes to secure medalist honors by a single stroke, her first collegiate victory. Both team and individual trophies for this event are shaped in the Vandy “V” logo, which has to be an interesting addition to the practice facility trophy case of their (now) SEC foes.
6. MARK SIMPSON COLORADO INVITATIONAL [Sep 30 - Oct 1, 2024]
Another tournament trophy made in the image of the host team is the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational. In the final round of the 14th edition of this great tournament, rival Colorado State moved up 3 spots with a 270/-18 to take the team title over the hosts. The win was Coach Jack Kennedy’s third in three events at the helm of the Rams. Despite not walking away with the champion trophy, Colorado set several program records in their runner-up finish. While it’s not uncommon for co-medalist to share honors, it’s not often you see co-medalists AFTER a playoff. Due to a time crunch with travel plans, the trio of Dylan Teeter [UTEP], Aidan Lee [St Mary’s (CA)], and Justin Biwer [Colorado] only had time for one playoff hole. Teeter and Lee were declared co-medalists with pars on that playoff hole while Biwer finished with a bogey. The win was the first of Lee’s collegiate career, Teeter picked up his second of the season.
7. GENE MIRANDA FALCON INVITATIONAL [Sep 21-23, 2024]
Rewind a week and we’ll see that Colorado State actually added more really unique trophies to their trophy case when they won their third straight Falcon Invitational. The tournament - renamed in 2003 to honor retired Air Force Lt. Col. Gene Miranda who is a legend in the golf community - has been played an incredible 55 times! With USAF as the host, the tournament trophies over the years have been incredible array of aviation-related items from wooden propellers to the fixed-wing aircraft models awarded this year. Colorado State took the first round lead and finished with 9 stroke victory after being either first or second in scoring on par 3s, 4s, AND 5s. The Rams were led by Matthew Wilkinson who reached -10/206, gaining his first collegiate medalist honors by 3 strokes.
8. OFCC-FIGHTING ILLINI [Sep 20-22, 2024]
One of the most elite events on the men’s Fall calendar is Illinois’ Fighting Illini tournament hosted at the prestigious Olympia Fields CC. Weather - which shortened last year’s event to just 36 holes for the first time in the event’s 17-year history - once again played a role as teams were forced to play 36 holes on the second day to try to beat out the rain. Fortunately all but one group was able to finish on Saturday, however that final group included players from both Georgia Tech and Arizona State and had implications for both the team and individual titles. Georgia Tech’s Benjamin Reuter managed to play the final two holes at +1 to preserve the team victory by a single stroke over Arizona State. Reuter (202/-8) finished runner-up individually to ASU’s Jose Luis Ballester who tied the individual medalist record at 200/-10 in his first collegiate victory.
9. BLESSINGS COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL [Sep 30 - Oct 2, 2024]
One of the most unique events of the college golf season, the Blessings Collegiate is a mixed tournament hosted by Arkansas where 10 university programs send their men’s and women’s teams to compete simultaneously. The event is presented by Tyson Foods whose chairman, John Tyson, is not only the founder of the tournament but also the very course it’s played at, the universally-respected Blessings Golf Club. Inaugurated in the fall after the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, the tournament is especially unique in the fact that each fivesome pairing that tees off consists of all teammates rather than the traditional mixing of players from different teams. This helps provide an interesting viewing experience for fans tuning into Golf Channel to watch the three-day coverage, seeing the teammates react to each other’s shots and special interviews with coaches who introduce their players as they all tee off from the same hole.
The Arkansas women successfully defended home turf with a commanding 33 stroke victory. Coach Shauna Taylor’s Razorbacks have won 3 of the 5 team event titles, and set a couple of new records this year including: largest margin of victory and low 18 and 54 hole scores. Leading the way was defending individual medalist Maria Jose Marin who bettered Brooke Matthews’ 54-hole scoring record by shooting -11/205 which was good enough for a record-tying 6-stroke victory.
For the men, it was LSU that ran away with the team title. The Tigers were the only team under par, winning by a commanding 16 strokes. Algot Kleen shot a tournament record 63/-9 to finish runner-up to teammate Arni Sveinsson. The freshman from Iceland collected his first collegiate victory in just his third career start.
Finally, having a mixed event with men’s and women’s teams from the same program allows for the opportunity to present atypical awards. The overall team champion is determined by combining the scores from each program’s men’s and women’s teams. This year’s winner was host Arkansas at +21. Additionally, the top scoring individuals from each team is combined to determine the program’s individual best-ball champion, this year won by Arkansas’s Maria Jose Marin & John Daly II at a combined -5.
We will definitely be doing more posts on college golf trophies! Let me know what suggestions you have on trophies to highlight.