Huskers Among Big Ten Golfers to Watch

The Nebraska trio of Rudy Sautron, Evan McDermott and Brodie Cunningham were included in the group of Big Ten Golfers to Watch for the 2025-26 men's golf season.

The golfers to watch were announced by the conference on Wednesday, Aug. 27, with the opening of the collegiate season this weekend. Nebraska tees off its campaign at the Island Resort Invitational hosted by South Dakota State at Sage Run Golf Club in Bark River, Mich., Aug. 31-Sept. 1.

Sautron, a junior from Reunion Island, France, rewrote the Nebraska record book in his first season with the Huskers, setting the school stroke average record (71.70) while helping NU set the team single-season stroke average record (288.38). He produced four top-10 finishes, including a tournament title in his NCAA Division I debut at the Gopher Invitational (Sept. 8-9) with a school sophomore record 208 (-5). He closed the fall with another record-setting performance, firing a school-record 63 (-9) in the final round of the Steelwood Collegiate to tie his own sophomore record with a 208 (-8). Sautron also finished with a team-leading six eagles on the season.

McDermott, a redshirt junior from Spring Lake, Mich., was a consistent contributor to the Nebraska lineup in 2024-25. He closed with a 73.44 stroke average over 32 rounds, which ranked as the second-best average by a sophomore in school history. McDermott and Hamish Murray were the only Huskers to compete in all 32 rounds for NU on the year. McDermott ended the season with four top-25 individual finishes.

Cunningham added one of the best freshman seasons ever by a Nebraska golfer with a school freshman-record 72.61 stroke average over 23 rounds in 2024-25. The young player from Glasgow, Scotland also tied the Husker single-round freshman record with a 66 (-4) in the final round of the Tiger Intercollegiate (April 8).

Cunningham became a consistent force for the Huskers in the spring with four straight top-15 finishes, including a tie for 14th to lead NU to a season-best runner-up finish at the Robert Kepler Invitational (April 18-19). He managed rounds of 73, 72 and 77 to finish at 222 (+9) on the par-71, 7,455-yard layout of the Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. His effort in Ohio included his fourth eagle of the season on the par-5 fourth hole in the second round (April 17).

2025-26 Big Ten Men’s Golfers to Watch List

Name	School	Yr.	Hometown
Max Herendeen	Illinois	Jr.	Bellevue, Wash.
Dane Huddleston	Illinois	Jr.	Woodland, Wash.
Ryan Voois	Illinois	Sr.	Ladera Ranch, Calif.
Clay Merchent	Indiana	Sr.	Noblesville, Ind.
Nick Piesen	Indiana	Jr.	Strongsville, Ohio
Cole Starnes	Indiana	Jr.	Fishers, Ind.
Grant Gudgel	Iowa	So.	Stillwater, Okla.
Gage Messingham	Iowa	Sr.	Arvada, Colo.
Max Tjoa	Iowa	Jr.	Cedar Falls, Iowa
Will Gregware	Maryland	So.	Conard, Conn.
Emil Riegger	Maryland	Jr.	Hinsdale, Ill.
Benjamin Siriboury	Maryland	So.	Clarksville, Md.
RJ Arone	Michigan	So.	Las Vegas, Nev.
Dean Muratore	Michigan	So.	Dix Hills, N.Y.
Nicolas Simon	Michigan	So.	Elk Grove Village, Ill.
Caleb Bond	Michigan State	Sr.	Williamston, Mich.
Ashton McCulloch	Michigan State	Gr.	Kingston, Ontario
Lorenzo Pinili	Michigan State	Jr.	Rochester Hills, Mich.
Jack Crousore	Minnesota	So.	Blufton, S.C.
Cormac Sharpe	Minnesota	Sr.	Blairgowrie, Scotland
Chun Ta Wu	Minnesota	So.	New South Wales, Australia
Brodie Cunningham	Nebraska	So.	Glasgow, Scotland
Evan McDermott	Nebraska	Jr.	Spring Lake, Mich.
Rudy Sautron	Nebraska	Jr.	Reunion Island, France
Archie Finnie	Northwestern	Jr.	Edinburgh, Scotland
Daniel Svärd	Northwestern	Sr.	Jarfalla, Sweden
Ethan Tseng	Northwestern	Sr.	Portland, Ore.
Vaughn Harber	Ohio State	So.	Blacklick, Ohio
Tyler Sabo	Ohio State	Jr.	Ashland, Ohio
Joe Wilson IV	Ohio State	Sr.	West Chester, Ohio
Jay Gould Healy	Oregon	Sr.	Cork, Ireland
Aiden Krafft	Oregon	Sr.	Albuquerque, N.M.
Ramil Saelim	Oregon	So.	Phitsanulok, Thailand
Alex Creamean	Penn State	Jr.	Winnetka, Ill.
Jackson Saroney	Penn State	Fr.	Syracuse, N.Y.
Nick Werner	Penn State	Fr.	Wilkes Barre, Pa.
Supapon Amornchaichan	Purdue	So.	Bangkok, Thailand
Sam Easterbrook	Purdue	Jr.	Tomworth, England
Jenson Forrester	Purdue	Jr.	Wolverhampton, England
Argyle Downes	Rutgers	So.	Charles Town, W. Va.
Bennett Espenshade	Rutgers	So.	Baltimore, Md.
Derek Gutierrez	Rutgers	Jr.	Cranford, N.J.
Kyle An	UCLA	Sr.	Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Logan Kim	UCLA	So.	Altadena, Calif.
Baylor Larrabee	UCLA	So.	Ferndale, Wash.
Jack Buchanan	USC	So.	Cape Town, South Africa
Jaden Dumdumaya	USC	So.	Benicia, Calif.
Antonio Safa	USC	Sr.	Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico
Jacob Goode	Washington	Sr.	San Francisco, Calif.
Finn Koelle	Washington	Jr.	Sulzfeld, Germany
Jack Murphy	Washington	So.	Blackrock, Ireland
Jacob Beckman	Wisconsin	Sr.	Middleton, Wis.
William Harned	Wisconsin	So.	Nashotah, Wis.
Spencer Turtz	Wisconsin	Sr.	Charlotte, N.C.