Benge, Sautron Earn Top 20 Finishes at Big Ten Championship

Sophomore Jackson Benge earned the top finish by a Husker men's golfer at a conference championship event since 2007, as the Omaha Westside graduate took 13th with an even-par 210 at the 2026 Big Ten Championship on Sunday.

Benge closed his first Big Ten Championship with a 69 (-1) on the 7,003-yard, par-70 layout of the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore. He also opened the tournament with a 69 (-1) on Friday, before adding a second-round 72 (+2) Saturday.

Benge's 13th-place finish was Nebraska's best individual performance since Brady Schnell took third at the 2007 Big 12 Championship. Benge finished just one stroke from the top 10, as four golfers tied for ninth at 209 (-1).

Junior teammate Rudy Sautron added a second top-20 individual finish for the Big Red by tying for 17th at 212 (+2) to give the Huskers two of their top four individual conference finishes in the past 20 years, joining Hamish Murray's tie for 15th at the conference tournament last season.

Sautron, one of the nation's top 100 golfers in the Scoreboard rankings, closed with a 73 (+3) after opening the tournament with an even-par 70 Friday and putting together a 69 (-1) on Saturday. Sautron's performance represented a 33-spot improvement in the final conference standings compared to his tie for 50th in his first year at Nebraska in 2025.

Benge and Sautron both surged down the stretch, posting scores of 33 (-2) over Sunday's final nine holes to earn top-20 finishes. The strong final push helped the Huskers finish eighth in the 18-team field at 857 (+17) - the lowest total by the Big Red at a conference tournament in history.

It marked just the second time in school history that Nebraska defeated 10 teams at a conference tournament, joining the 1999 Huskers who finished second in the 12-team Big 12 at 859 - NU's previous best conference tournament total. 

Nebraska defeated nine top-100 teams in a field that featured 16 top-100 teams, including No. 48 Northwestern which tied for ninth with No. 73 Minnesota at 228 (+18).

Five of the seven teams the Huskers trailed in the tournament were ranked among the nation's top 50, including No. 33 UCLA which secured the tournament title at 202 (-8). The Bruins claimed a four-stroke win over No. 12 Illinois at 206 (-4), while No. 50 Washington finished third at 212 (+2). 

UCLA's Jonah Kim captured the Big Ten individual title with a 54-hole score of 202 (-8), while Washington's Finn Koelle took second at 205 (-5). USC's Jaden Dumdumaya and Jack Buchanan, along with Max Herendeen and Ryan Voois from Illinois tied for third at 207 (-3).

Nebraska true freshman Caden Mickelson added a strong showing of his own by tying for 40th at 217 (+7). Mickelson joined Benge and Sautron in an impressive back nine to close the tournament, as the first-year golfer from Kansas City, Mo., fired a 34 (-1) to end the day with an even-par 70.

Sophomore Brodie Cunningham was Nebraska's No. 4 overall finisher in a tie for 58th at 221 (+11) despite a final-round 78. It represented a 24-spot improvement for Cunningham over his Big Ten Championship performance a year ago.

Redshirt junior Evan McDermott opened the tournament with a 73 in the first round for the Huskers before succumbing to a nagging injury. Senior Bryson Oots contributed rounds of 78 and 75 over the final two days. His final round 75 counted toward Nebraska's team score.

Big Ten Championship
May 1-3, 2026
Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Par 70, 7,015 Yards)
North Plains, Oregon

Final Team Results
1. (33) UCLA - 281-269-282=832 (-8)
2. (12) Illinois - 279-286-271=836 (-4)
3. (50) Washington - 281-280-281=842 (+2)
4. (87) Rutgers - 287-285-278=850 (+10)
5. (26) Southern California - 293-277-284=854 (+14)
T6. (42) Purdue - 295-275-286=856 (+16)
T6. (122) Penn State - 293-283-280=856 (+16)
8. (82) Nebraska - 284-286-287=857 (+17)
T9. (73) Minnesota - 285-288-285=858 (+18)
T9. (48) Northwestern - 285-292-281=858 (+18)
11. (88) Michigan - 288-283-288=859 (+19)
T12. (75) Michigan State - 298-281-283=862 (+22)
T12. (61) Oregon - 290-286-286=862 (+22)
14. (100) Maryland - 291-287-293=871 (+31)
15. (84) Iowa - 293-288-295=876 (+36)
T16. (99) Indiana - 294-293-291=878 (+38)
T16. (109) Wisconsin - 296-293-289=878 (+38)
18. (64) Ohio State - 297-293-295=885 (+45)

Final Individual Results
1. (150) Jonah Kim, UCLA - 67-66-69=202 (-8)
2. Finn Koelle, Washington - 71-68-66=205 (-5)
T3. (59) Max Herendeen, Illinois - 68-69-70=207 (-3)
T3. (102) Jack Buchanan, USC - 70-68-69=207 (-3)
T3. (46) Jaden Dumdummaya, USC - 69-66-72=207 (-3)
T3. (64) Ryan Voois, Illinois - 72-69-66=207 (-3)
T7. (91) Baylor Larrabee, UCLA - 69-69-70=208 (-2)
T7. Tyler Loree, UCLA - 71-66-71=208 (-2)
T9. (147) Sam Easterbrook, Purdue - 76-67-66=209 (-1)
T9. Bennett Espenshade, Rutgers - 73-70-66=209 (-1)
T9. Emil Borrestuen Herstad, Washington - 68-73-68=209 (-1)
T9. Chun-Ta-Wu, Minnesota - 69-72-68=209 (-1) 

Nebraska Individual Results
13. Jackson Benge - 69-72-69=210 (E)
T17. (96) Rudy Sautron - 70-69-73=212 (+2)
T40. Caden Mickelson - 73-74-70=217 (+7)
T58. Brodie Cunningham - 72-71-78=221 (+11)
87. Bryson Oots - SUB-77-75=152 (+12)
92. Evan McDermott - 73-SUB-SUB=73 (+3)