Huskers Pull off Two Upsets at Big Ten Match Play

Palm Coast, Fla. -- For the second straight year, Nebraska was seeded last in the Big Ten Match Play Championships, and in the second straight year, Nebraska pulled off two upsets against higher seeds Ohio State and Michigan State to advance to the semifinals on Saturday morning where they will take on the first-seeded Northwestern Wildcats who received a first round bye and defeated Iowa in the quarterfinals.

"I think preparation is key. It's really prepared to play a golf course where the weather conditions change every 10 minutes. We told the guys there's no excuses. We needed to stay in the present, and I think they did that today," Head Coach Mark Hankins said."

The Huskers began the day taking on the fourth-seeded and defending Big Ten Match Play Champion Ohio State Buckeyes. As a team, the Huskers started slow with junior Mark Foelbaek and sophomore Caleb Badura each leading their matches at the turn. 

After being down by two, junior Tom Westenberger won four out of five holes to take the lead over Ohio State's Grant Engle. Westenberger would hold on to win the match 2-1.

Foelbaek and Badura would each hold on to their matches 4-2 and 3-1, respectively. This would leave the Huskers tied with the Buckeyes at three wins a piece. In his first competitive match since October of 2018, Daniel Pearson fell to Jackson Chandler 2-1, but after a scoring error, Pearson had to go back out on the golf course 20 minutes after he had finished the round to putt from 12 feet out to win the match. Pearson would make the putt to give Nebraska the win and advance them to the quarterfinals where they would face Michigan State.

The Huskers would fall behind early once again with five out of six golfers trailing through six holes. The Huskers would dominate from that point on picking up three match victories and one tie to give them a 3.5-2.5 victory over the Spartans to advance to the semifinals. Branden Meyer, Badura and Pearson each would take home victories while Westenberger would tie. The match was shortened to 14 holes due to darkness. 

The Huskers will be back in action tomorrow morning where they will take on the first-seeded Northwestern Wildcats at 7 a.m. The Wildcats received a first-round bye but had a practice scrimmage against second-seeded Purdue where they came out on top 3.5-2.5. They went on to defeat Iowa in the quarterfinals 4.5-0.5. The Wildcats came into the tournament ranked 38th by Golfstat.  

"We need to show up with no preconceptions about how the match is going to go. We're well prepared. We just have to go out there and give 100%. We have to control the things we can control," Hankins said.

If Nebraska wins, they will face the winner of Minnesota/Penn State in the championship match. If they lose, they will face the loser in the third-place match. The championship and the third-place match will begin at 12 p.m.

How to Follow Along
Live updates can be found at the official Twitter account of Nebraska Men's Golf @HuskersGolf. Live scoring will also be provided at http://golfstat.com/.

Results vs. Ohio State: (3-3 Tiebreaker Nebraska)
Felix Kvarnstrom (OSU) 4&3 over Tanner Owen (NEB)
Patrick Schmucking (OSU) 2 up over Branden Meyer (NEB)
Tom Westenberger (NEB) 2&1 over Grant Engle (OSU)
Mark Foelbaek (NEB) 4&2 over Kevin Stone (OSU)
Caleb Badura (NEB) 3&1 over Laken Hinton (OSU)
Jackson Chandler (OSU) 2&1 over Daniel Pearson (NEB)

 

Results vs. Michigan State: (3.5-2.5 Nebraska)
James Piot (MSU) 5&3 over Tanner Owen (NEB)
Branden Meyer 4&3 over Troy Taylor II (MSU)
Tom Westenberger (NEB) Tie with Bradley Smithson (MSU)
Landon Ernst (MSU) 4&2 over Mark Foelbaek (NEB)
Caleb Badura (NEB) 2&1 over A Walker (MSU)
Daniel Pearson (NEB) 2 up over Devin Deogun (MSU)