MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's golf program will conclude its regular season this coming Monday and Tuesday (April 20-21) with the 43rd annual Beu/Mussatto Invitational. The event is scheduled for a total of 54 holes, 36 on day one and 18 on day two, and will feature 10 teams.
PURPLE LINEUP:
1. Nate Davis - Sr. - Winchester, Ill. (West Central)
2. Andrew Blackburn - So. - Sterling, Ill. (Sterling)
3. Alex Templin - Jr. - Mount Sterling, Ill. (Brown County)
4. Sean Miller - Fr. - Rockford, Ill. (East)
5. Carter Morrison - So. - Cameron, Mo. (Cameron)
GOLD LINEUP:
1. Alex Flaugher - Sr. - Edwardsville, Ill. (Edwardsville)
2. Nick Wysocki - Jr. - Grayslake, Ill. (Grayslake/Lake County)
3. Austin Von Alst - So. - Belleville, Ill. (Belleville Althoff)
4. Connor Rejman - Fr. - Barrington, Ill. (Westminster Christian)
5. Tanner Ludwig - Jr. - Carroll, Iowa (Carroll/Des Moines Area)
A NOTE FROM HEAD COACH MEL BLASI: "We are excited to host the 43rd annual Western Illinois University Mussatto/Beu Golf Invitational (named after Harry Mussatto and Frank Beu). This is one of the longest standing golf invitationals in collegiate golf. We have a lot of very good teams coming in for the tournament this year. Bradley University is the defending champion and returns most of their players from last year's team. North Dakota State, Omaha and IUPUI will join us in representing the Summit League. We have three NAIA powerhouses who are very competitive on the national scene coming in St. Ambrose, Cardinal Strich and William Woods. Three-time defending champion NJCAA Division I Indian Hills Community College rounds out the field this year. We are playing our best golf of the year right now having just come off of two of our best team scores at the Indiana's Invitational. Nate Davis has been our "rock" all year and will be competing in his last home tournament. Andrew Blackburn and Alex Templin have provided solid support the last couple of tournaments and freshman Sean Miller and sophomore Austing Von Alst have also turned in good scores... Carter Morrison has also been one of our top performers. Playing on our home course should be an advantage. We play and practice on this course nearly every day and I know our players are excited to play in front of the family and friends for the home tournament. It's always exciting to see faculty, staff, students and family come out for the event. Our golf course is ideal to be able to watch several holes at one place, so we hope the students will feel comfortable coming out to watch some great golf. You never know, there may be a future PGA Tour player our field this year. It hasn't been that long ago that Brian Studard from Oakland won our tournament and Brian is enjoying a great career on the PGA Tour."
ABOUT THE COURSE: The first course at Western Illinois State Teachers College was built on the lawn of Sherman Hall. It consisted of three rather short holes. During the 1940s, the Western Illinois Teacher College expanded, and a 56-acre tract of land was purchased for the development of a new 9-hole golf course. The course was built on the northwest edge of campus. This course, commonly referred to as "Doc. Beu's Course," served the college for more then two decades. The need for land to further develop and expand the campus of Western Illinois University in the late 1960's created a necessity to move the course once again. In 1970, the current 9-hole course was designed and constructed on University farmland just north of the Lamoine River. The course officially opened in 1972, and in 1973, the course was named in honor of Oscar L. Champion who coached the golf team from 1934-1943. The Harry Mussatto Golf Course at Western Illinois University has been serving the campus community and the city of Macomb for over 25 years. It stands as one of the finest 18-hole golf facilities in the state of Illinois. The golf course was designed by Ken Killian and Dick Nugent, two of the finest golf course designers in the business. The facility features teaching stations which include a driving range, putting green, practice bunker, and two practice holes. The Harry Mussatto Golf Course currently serves a variety of clientele, providing instructional recreation services for the students at Western Illinois University along with the campus faculty and staff. In addition, the Harry Mussatto Golf Course is host to the WIU Men's and Women's Golf Team as well as several Intercollegiate Athletic Department events. The golf course is the primary public golf facility in the city of Macomb.
LAST TIME OUT: The Western Illinois men's golf squad wrapped up play in the 2015 NYX Hoosier Invitational on April 12 in 13th place with a season-best score of 885. The Fighting Leathernecks opened the event with 292 and a 302 during day one before carding a season-low mark of 291 in round three. WIU's previous best single-round score was 293, which occurred during the fall at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate in Kentucky. The Leathernecks previous best three-round score was an 896, which also occurred at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate. Nate Davis finished with a team-best score of 218. The senior captain's score tied his previous season low. Davis opened the event with a 74 before firing back-to-back 72s in round two and three.
PRESEASON POLL: Western Illinois finished seventh in The Summit League's preseason poll of league's head coaches with 22 points. The complete preseason poll can be found below.
2015 MEN'S GOLF PRESEASON POLL
Rank School (1st-place votes) Pts.
1. Denver (8) 64
2. IUPUI (1) 53
3. Oral Roberts 52
4. South Dakota 39
5. North Dakota State 34
6. Omaha 29
7. Western Illinois 22
8. South Dakota State 19
9. Fort Wayne 12
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