By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
105 Golfers from 19 States and 5 countries came to Bloomington to compete in the Golfweek Hoosier Men’s Amateur Tournament at the Pfau Course on the Indiana University Campus that started on Tuesday and ended Thursday after 3 Rounds and 54 Holes taking their best shots on the 7341-yard par 71 course.
103 of the 105 finished the threw day event and only one could be the winner and that belonged to Julian Menser of South Lyon Michigan who will be a Junior at Michigan State University this year. Menser win the title with three round score of 207 which was 6 under par.
Menser shot a 68 and was tied with Silas Haarer, Tobey Thomas Kim, Bryson Hughes and Alexander Hogan after the first round. Indiana University Senior Alec Cesare had shot a second round 67. University of Evansville Junior Jamison Ousley shot a 68 and Benjamin Kell shot a 69. Menser along with five other golfers shot a 70 in the second round.
Menser had a 1 stroke lead going into the final round over Keil, Hareer and Ousley. Menser shot a 69 along with 5 other golfers but the one stroke lead was enough to hold to win his second tournament to go along with his win last fall in the “Put Me in Coach Invitational” at the Delaware Country Club in Muncie, Indiana.
Keil is from Lagrange Indiana and will play at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix Arizona this season finished one stroke behind Menser for second. Keil started his career at the University of Indianapolis before playing last season at Southern Illinois University.
Middlebury, Indiana Native and Liberty University Sophomore Silas Haarer finished 3 strokes back of Menser for third. Ousley was four strokes back of the leader for fourth followed by a three-way tie for fifth between Peyton Blackard of Fort Branch Indiana and Norte Dame, Grey Campbell who is the Head Golf Coach of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee and is from Humboldt, Tennessee and Cameron Phillips who is Sophomore at the University of Kentucky and from West Portsmouth, Ohio five Strokes back of Menser. Bryson Hughes who is a Sophomore at Mississippi State and is from Saint John’s Florida was in fifth place going into the final round and finish even par for the tournament tied for 8th place.
Five-Time Defending City of Bloomington Golf Champion Jason Bannister tied for 10th place with four other golfers including Indiana University Senior Nick Piesen of Strongsville, Ohio for a score of 214 which was one over par. Peisen was one of five current Indiana Hoosier Men’s Golfers in the field. Senior Alec Cesare tied for 17th at five over par. Sophomore Jake Cesare tied for 37th at 10 over par. Senior Cole Starnes tied for 52nd at 14 over par and Sophomore Caleb Schnarr tied for 62nd at 16 over par.
Bloomington South Graduate and Ball State University Junior Happy Gilmore tied for 41st place with a total score of 224 for 11 over par. Gilmore shot a 71 in the first round and struggled on day two shooting an 80 and rebounded with a 73 in the final round to move up 15 spots up the leaderboard. Mason Deal from Perrysburg Ohio had the best score final round with a 68. Deal. Who graduated from the University of Toledo will play his final season at the University of Richmond as Graduate Transfer.
Jackson Saroney from Syracuse New York withdrew before the tournament began and Cy Norman from Benton Illinois withdrew after shooting an 81 in the first round as the tournament began with 105 entries and finished with 103.
There were 31 golfers from Indiana and other states that were represented included Michigan, Florida, Ohio Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, ‘California Rhode Island and New York. There were five other countries represented including Mexico, Australia, Ireland, Taiwan and Pakistan. Next week the Ladies will have their tournament at the Pfau Course starring Tuesday and going through Thursday with the same 54 Hole three round format as the Men’s.