PALM COAST, Fla. -- Wisconsin men's golf coach Michael Burcin has been raving all season about the depth on his young, but talented, team. On Friday, that potential turned into results as the Badgers knocked off 12th-ranked Illinois and No. 44 Northwestern on the first day of the Big Ten Match Play at Hammock Dunes in Palm Coast, Florida.

Illinois and Northwestern entered the event as the top two seeds in the West with the Badgers seeded No. 6. All 14 Big Ten teams are competing in the event with the squads split into East and West, mirroring the conference's football divisions. 

"This is a watershed moment for our program," Burcin said. "I'm extremely proud of our guys to be able to go toe-to-toe with two traditional golf powers like Illinois and Northwestern and come out on top. It says a lot about our guys, their competitiveness and their fight. Playing 36 holes of match play is taxing, especially at such a high level and they were able to persevere."

In the morning match, senior Eddie Wajda and sophomores Pete Kuhl and Nick Robinson all won their individual matches. With junior Jordan Hahn and freshman Griffin Barela having dropped their matches, it was up to freshman Sam Anderson to close the deal. 

His match went the full length and when he made a 3-foot putt to halve the final hole and finish his match all square, his half-point gave the Badgers a 3.5-2.5 win over the Illini, who own the nation's second-longest NCAA championship streak with 10 straight appearances.

"Our freshmen keep stepping up," Burcin said. "We're playing with one senior, one junior and the rest are sophomores and freshmen and the young guys keep rising to the challenge."
  
In the afternoon match against Northwestern, Hahn set the tone by defeating Dylan Wu, the 35th-ranked golfer in the country, 1-up. Anderson and Robinson dominated their matches, winning 5&4 and 4&3, respectively. With Barela, Kuhl and Wajda dropping their matches, the team competition came down to total holes won, and the decisive victories from Anderson and Robinson pushed the Badgers over the top.
 
UW put itself in good position for tomorrow's final two matches. The Badgers take on Nebraska in the morning. The day's second match will see the seven teams in each division re-seeded based on the first three rounds' results with the top team in the East squaring off against the top team in the West in the championships match. Each of the remaining seeds, Nos. 2-7, will also square off.