Underclassmen lead the way on first day of Gifford Collegiate

Monday, November 7

Silverado GC, Napa, Calif.

All Day

Wisconsin Badgers

Gifford Intercollegiate

Photo by: Greg Anderson

Underclassmen lead the way on first day of Gifford Collegiate

November 07, 2016 | Men's Golf

UW set to face on top-seed Southern California in quarterfinals

NAPA, Calif. -- The underclassmen duo of freshman Nick Robinson and sophomore Jordan Hahn paced the Wisconsin men's golf team through 36 holes of stroke play to open the Gifford Collegiate at the Silverado Resort and Spa North Course.

The Badgers (373-374=747) ended the day in eighth place and will face top-ranked Southern California in the quarterfinals to begin match play.

"We knew the whole week that is was certainly going to be a battle so we expected to compete better than we did today," head coach Michael Burcin said. "We're paired against arguably the best team in the country tomorrow so it's a great opportunity."

Hahn and Robinson both posted a 2-over 74 in the morning and even par-72 in the afternoon to finish in a tie for 27th place. Just three strokes behind was freshman Pete Kuhl (74-75=149), who tied for 38th.

"The younger guys played quite well," Burcin said. "They all played real solid and that's really encouraging to see against competition like this."

Senior Ben Skogen (76-77=153) tied for 45th and sophomore Brett Robinson (75-79=154) was one stroke back in a tie for 48th. After shooting a 6-over 78 in both rounds, junior Eddie Wajda (78-78=156) finished in 50th place to round out the Badgers.

In team standings, Southern California (341-341=682) finished 17 strokes ahead to earn the top seed while Stanford (353-346=699), UCLA (360-346=706) and Colorado (359-349=708) rounded out the top four. Northwestern and Washington both finished at 4-under, but Northwestern won the tiebreaker to take the fifth seed. South Florida finished seventh at 15-over.

The Badgers will tee off against Southern California at 9 a.m. for 18 holes of match play on Tuesday. Following the morning round, each team will then compete in the semifinals of either the championship or consolation bracket.

"It's match play and anything can happen in match play so we don't have anything to lose," Burcin said. "We expect to win so hopefully the guys will have that attitude in the morning and be ready to go."