The Valparaiso University men’s golf team rounded out a successful home tournament on Tuesday with the final 18 holes of the Crusader Collegiate at Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton. Valpo played host to a 13-team event that featured beautiful weather on both days. Valpo tied for fifth in the team standings, led by a strong showing from senior Mitchell Wittmann (Kaukauna, Wis. / Kaukauna), who tied for third.

How It Happened

• Wittmann finished in a tie for third among all individuals, carding an even par of 216 over the three rounds. He turned in a 74 in the final round on Tuesday. He tied with Wright State’s Austin Schoonmaker for third.
• Freshman Charlie Toman (Chardon, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) stroked a 222 (+6) including a team-best Round 3 score of 71 (-1). He finished tied for 14^th overall.
• Freshman Garrett Willis (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Homestead) also had a strong day on Tuesday, finishing at t-17 thanks to a 72 in the final round.
• Sophomores Brett Seward (Aurora, Ill. / Aurora Christian) and Drew Alexander (McCordsville, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern) rounded out the top team for Valpo at 236 and 237, respectively.
• Valpo also had a second five-player team compete in the event, a group that was led by Matthew McCarthy (O’Fallon, Ill. / Althoff Catholic), who stroked a 79 on Tuesday to finish at t-49 (12^th).

Inside the Round

• Wittmann thrived on Par 4 holes, compiling an average of 3.97 to lead the 74-player field. Toman tied for the top spot on Par 3 holes at 2.83.
• Willis had four birdies in Round 3 to lead Valpo, while Wittmann, Toman and Seward carded 13 pars apiece in the final round.
• For the tournament, Wittmann led Valpo with 10 birdies, while the team finished with 32. Valpo led all 13 teams in pars with 165.
• Valpo had its best round of the event with a team score of 294 on Tuesday. The team tied with Creighton for fifth and was 11 strokes behind a third-place tie between Loyola and Purdue Fort Wayne. Bradley took the team title at 867.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“As a team, we are constantly talking about finishing our individual rounds well and finishing our team tournament round well. Today's final round was the second time in three tournaments that we had our best team score in the third round. The guys bounced back well with today's round versus yesterday's second round, and it's always a positive to see that type of quality effort.  Also, it was a blessing to have two teams and all 10 of our players participating in our home tournament.”

“We have some areas that we are going to focus on continuing to improve our team scoring.  Short irons into greens, chipping around the greens and putting are three categories that we will spend quality time on in practice this week. Our Par-5 scoring was very poor in this tournament and sharpening those three areas will help us take more advantage of those potential scoring opportunities.”

“Mitch had a terrific tournament, leading our team in scoring and playing very steady for us. His ball-striking was exceptional this tournament, hitting a high percentage of greens and fairways in regulation all three rounds. His putting was exemplary and probably the best that we have seen in the first three tournaments. To finish in third place at our home tournament on a challenging golf course was both admirable and impressive.”

"Many thanks to the parents, volunteers, friends and Valpo staff that came to support us during our home tournament. The golf course was in amazing shape and the staff at Sand Creek Country Club was terrific in partnering with us in hosting an awesome event.”

Up Next

Valpo’s next time on the course will be Monday, Sept. 24 to begin the two-day Derek Dolenc Invitational in Madison, Ill.