Huskers Plan to Build Momentum at Purdue

The Nebraska men’s golf team hopes to build off its best tournament performance in school history, when the Huskers continue their fall campaign at the Purdue Fall Invitational, Oct. 13-14.

The two-day, 54-hole event gets underway with a shotgun start at 7:45 a.m. (CT) for two rounds on Monday, Oct. 13, in West Lafayette, Ind. The teams will compete in Tuesday’s final round beginning at 7:30 a.m. (CT).

The 15-team field will be challenged by a par-72, 7,465-yard layout at the Kampen-Cosler Golf Club on the Purdue campus.

The field at Purdue includes Ball State, Butler, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Oakland, Ohio, Purdue Fort Wayne, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Toledo, Valparaiso, Western Kentucky and the hosts from Purdue.

Nebraska, which will be making its third all-time appearance at the Purdue Fall Invite after competing in West Lafayette in both 2022 and 2023, shoots for its second straight tournament title after winning its own Git-R-Done Invitational (Sept. 22-23).

Nebraska’s win at Firethorn was its first tournament title since opening the 2012-13 season with a victory at its own Fairway Club Invitational at ArborLinks (Sept. 10-11, 2012).

The Huskers won in impressive fashion by posting a school-record 823 (-29) on a 7,102-yard, par-71 layout at Firethorn.

Junior Rudy Sautron led the way with his second career title as a Husker with a school-record 200 (-13) that included a 64 (-7) in the final round.

True freshman Caden Mickelson was nearly as spectacular, finishing third at 201 (-12) on his way to shattering the Husker freshman record, which he set to open the season with a 207 (-9) at the Resort Island Invitational (Aug. 31-Sept. 1).

Brodie Cunningham added a tie for 12th with a 212 (-1) at the Git-R-Done, while Evan McDermott put four Huskers in the top 15 by tying for 15th at even-par 213.

Sophomore Jackson Benge rounded out the Husker contingent by tying for 26th at 216 (+3).

Live updates and scoring for the Purdue Fall Invitational can be found at HuskersGolf on Instagram and X, and Scoreboard.clippd.com. Complete coverage can be found at Huskers.com.

 

Sautron Named Big Ten Golfer of the Week
Nebraska’s Rudy Sautron captured Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week honors for the second time in his career after sharing the individual tournament title at NU’s Git-R-Done Invitational (Sept. 22-23).

The junior from Reunion Island, France, smashed the Nebraska tournament record with a three-round total of 200 (-13), including the second-best round in school history with a 64 (-7). Sautron’s performance helped Nebraska close out its first team title since the fall of 2012.

Sautron earned his first Big Ten weekly award on Sept. 12, 2024 after claiming the individual title at the Gopher Invitational to open his NU career.

Four Huskers Going Low Early in 2025-26 Season
A quartet of Huskers have been consistently below par through the first four tournaments of the 2025 fall campaign.

True freshman Caden Mickelson has led the scoring charge for the young Huskers, posting a team-best 69.91 stroke average over 11 rounds. Mickelson heads to the Purdue Fall Invitational 14 strokes below par (-1.27/round) through his first four collegiate tournaments.

Junior Rudy Sautron is not far behind, carrying a 70.75 (-0.50/round) stroke average through 12 rounds. Sautron is six-under-par for the season.

Sophomores Jackson Benge and Brodie Cunningham also have been scoring at a high level with identical 71.00 stroke averages (-0.25/round) through 12 rounds. Both Huskers are three strokes under par for the season.

Huskers Hope to Break Through with 2026 NCAA Bid
Nebraska believes its 10-man roster has the ingredients to break through with its first team NCAA Regional berth since 2007.

Nebraska, which has made significant jumps in the final national rankings in each of Coach Judd Cornell’s three seasons, including a No. 83 ranking to end 2024-25, has a balanced roster with experienced seniors and talented juniors and sophomores leading the way.

Fourth-year Husker seniors Quinn Yost (56 rounds) and Davis Johnson (38 rounds) have seen significant time in Nebraska’s lineup during their careers. Both help set a competitive tone each day in practice and both provide great leadership off the course in the classroom and in the community.

Two-time NCAA Division II All-Midwest Region selection Bryson Oots adds to the talent and experience of Nebraska’s 2026 senior class.

Juniors Rudy Sautron and Evan McDermott have experience playing in the heart of Nebraska’s lineup. Both were leaders for the Big Red as sophomores in 2024-25, and both are focused on continuing NU’s drive for postseason play.

Brodie Cunningham leads a talented sophomore class that includes Jackson Benge and James Ackerman. Cunningham set Nebraska’s freshman stroke average record a year ago, while Benge got a strong taste of collegiate action. Cunningham and Benge lead Nebraska’s lineup at the Git-R-Done Invitational.

Freshmen Caden Mickelson and Thomas Bryson hope to make impacts on the Husker lineup in their first season. Both players were individual high school state champions and four-time all-state selections during their prep careers. Mickelson was NU’s top finisher (T12th) with a school freshman-record 207 (-9) at the Island Resort Invitational (Aug. 31-Sept. 1). He shattered that freshman mark just three weeks later by taking third at the Git-R-Done Invitational (Sept. 22-23) with a 54-hole total of 201 (-12).

Husker Trio Named 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 Aug. 27.

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 last 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).

Oots Joins Nebraska as Senior Transfer
Bryson Oots became the most recent addition to the Nebraska roster when the Kansas City native joined the Huskers on July 1, 2025.

Oots, who was the Kenneth Smith Award winner as the Kansas City male high school golfer of the year in 2022, spent his first three collegiate seasons at NCAA Division II William Jewell.

A two-time PING All-Midwest Region pick at the Liberty, Mo., school, Oots produced a 72.17 stroke average over 34 rounds last season and captured four individual tournament titles on his way to a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.

The Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2024-25, Oots was a two-time first-team All-GLVC performer.

Oots made his Husker debut by tying for fifth as an individual at the Bluejay Invitational (Sept. 15-16). He opened with back-to-back rounds of 69 (-3) on a 7,079-yard layout at Shadow Ridge Country Club in Omaha on his way to 211 (-5).

He continues a recent trend of successful NCAA Division II players transferring to Nebraska, including current Husker Rudy Sautron and 2025 NU senior Hamish Murray, who both came to the Big Red from Cameron University in Oklahoma.

NU Adds Pair of Talented Freshmen for 2025-26 Season
Freshmen Thomas Bryson (Lincoln, Neb.) and Caden Mickelson (Kansas City, Mo.) both bring impressive credentials to Lincoln.

Bryson continues a rich family tradition as both his father, Kevin (2000-03) and mother, Beth Anne (Cherry) (2002-05) were both four-year golf letterwinners at Nebraska.

Thomas was a four-year Nebraska Super-State pick after winning the Class A individual state title as a freshman at Lincoln Southeast in 2022. He was also the 2021 Nebraska Junior PGA Champion and the 2022 Nebraska Amateur of the Year.

He made his collegiate debut at the Bluejay Invitational in Omaha (Sept. 15-16), tying for 16th with a 215 (-1) over three rounds at Shadow Ridge Country Club.

Mickelson, who was the Kansas City metro area high school player of the year in 2025, was the Missouri Class 5 state champion in 2023 before adding runner-up finishes at state in 2024 and 2025. He was the No. 1 recruit in the state of Missouri in 2025 and a four-time Missouri Class 5 All-State selection.

Mickelson was Nebraska’s top finisher with a school freshman record 207 (-9) at the season-opening Island Resort Invitational (Aug. 31-Sept. 1), before earning the top spot in the Husker lineup for the Gopher Invitational (Sept. 7-8). After finishing 40th with three solid rounds of 72 (+1) at the Bearcat Invitational (Sept. 15-16), Mickelson shattered his own Husker freshman record with a 201 (-12) on his way to a third-place finish at the Git-R-Done Invitational (Sept. 22-23).

Schedule to Challenge Huskers from Start to Finish
The Huskers opened 2025-26 with a sixth-place finish and an 838 (-26) at the Island Resort Invitational in Michigan (Aug. 31-Sept. 1), before settling for 10th at the Gopher Invitational (Sept. 7-8). NU journeyed to Cincinnati for the Bearcat Invitational (Sept. 15-16), where they posted a fourth-place finish in a strong 18-team field, before capping four straight weeks of action at by winning the Git-R-Done Invitational at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln (Sept. 22-23). The Huskers set a school record with an 823 (-29) to win their first team title since September of 2012.

After a three-week break, the Big Red head to Indiana for the Purdue Fall Invitational (Oct. 13-14), then close the fall at the Steelwood Collegiate in Loxley, Ala. (Oct. 25-26).

The Huskers open the spring back in Alabama at the Hal Williams Collegiate (Feb. 16-17), before traveling to The Johnnie-O in St. Simons Island, Ga. (March 9-10) and the All-American Intercollegiate in Houston (March 16-17).

The Big Red head to Arizona for the Bell Bank “Pay It Forward” Collegiate (March 23-24), ahead of a trip to Missouri for the Tiger Intercollegiate (April 6-7). NU closes the regular season at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in Chapel Hill, N.C. (April 11-12), before traveling to Oregon for the Big Ten Championship (May 1-3).

 

2025-26 Season Bests
Team Total: 823 (-29), Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23
Team to Par: -29 (823), Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23
Team Finish: 1st, Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23, 2025
Individual Finish: T1st, Rudy Sautron, Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23
Individual Total: 200 (-13), Rudy Sautron, Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23
Individual to Par: -13 (200), Rudy Sautron, Git-R-Done, Sept. 22-23
Individual Round: 64 (-7), Rudy Sautron, 64, Git-R-Done, 3rd, Sept. 23
Individual Round to Par: -7 (64), Rudy Sautron, 64, Git-R-Done, 3rd, Sept. 23
Eagles (7):
Brodie Cunningham, No. 18 (Par 5), 3rd, Island Resort, Sept. 1
Jackson Benge, No. 9 (Par 5), 1st, Gopher, Sept. 7
Bryson Oots, No. 14 (Par 4), 1st, Bluejay, Sept. 15
James Ackerman, No. 12 (Par 5), 2nd, Bluejay, Sept. 15
Thomas Bryson, No. 16 (Par 5), 2nd, Bluejay, Sept. 15
Evan McDermott, No. 12 (Par 5), 3rd, Bluejay, Sept. 16
Brodie Cunningham, No. 8 (Par 5), 2nd, Git-R-Done, Sept. 22