Shoddy Shooting Sends Men’s Golf to Third at Butler Invitational

Loyola men’s golf trekked to Indianapolis March 31 to April 1 for the Don Benbow Butler Invitational — their third invitational of the spring. The invite was a standard 18-hole, three-round competition that featured a par-70, with team scoring comprised of the top four scores on each university. 

The Ramblers entered looking to fare better than in their two prior competitions, where they finished 10th and 11th.

In the invite’s first round, Loyola led the pack thanks to stellar swinging by third-year Charlie Kulwin, who compiled five birdies over the 18 holes in the first round. Four of the birdies came in the last seven holes, giving Kulwin a score of three under par and second individually across the contest.

Behind Kulwin were redshirt third-year Zach Mulhearn and first-year Connor Woodin, who tied for second in team scoring as they both finished even with par.

Finishing fourth for Loyola was third-year Sebastian Kasun, who was one over par at 71 strokes, having started two over par after the front nine. Behind him was third-year Ryan Walsh, who was two over par, and first-year Alex Rasmussen, who competed individually and ended eight over.

The Ramblers combined for a score of two under after round one and skyrocketed to first place with a three-stroke lead.

Round two wasn’t nearly as successful for the Ramblers, as they added 12 strokes to their team score to finish the round 10 over. Kulwin recorded another excellent round for Loyola with one under par at 69 — good enough to keep him in second individually.

Behind him at two over par was Kasun, followed by Walsh at three over and Woodin at six over, after two double bogeys sank his round. Mulhearn missed the cut for Loyola after hitting seven over and Rasmussen improved five strokes better than his opening round, hitting three over.

Poor shooting from the Ramblers sank them down to third as they headed into the final round.

The Ramblers bounced back in the final round as Walsh led the way with his best round of the invitational. He finished even at 70 after starting his round with 16 straight pars and raised himself up 12 spots to 27th place. 

Kulwin and Mulhearn were both a stroke behind and one over as both Ramblers finished two and one over par on the back nine. Kulwin ended the tournament tied for second, while Mulhearn improved 10 spots from the previous round for 45th.

Kasun wrapped up the round by matching his prior score at two over. Despite finishing the front nine even, he ended his weekend tied with Walsh in 27th. Woodin barely missed the cut at four over on the front nine, impacting an overall ranking drop to 60th. Rassmussen struggled with seven bogeys to one birdie, finishing six over to end things in 82nd.

The Ramblers ended the invitational in third at 12 over as a team, behind Butler University at 11 under and DePaul University who finished even.

Loyola tees off again April 13-14 at the Wright State Invite in Springboro, Ohio for their last invite before the Atlantic 10 Championships the following week April 22-24.