Five Things to Know: Badgers host Badger Invitational
September 26, 2026 | Men's Golf
Wisconsin returns home for its only home tournament of the season
Madison, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's golf team is home this weekend to host the 2026 Badger Invitational at University Ridge Golf Course. The Badgers will compete against 18 other teams across three rounds from Sept. 27-29.
The 54-hole tournament begins Sunday, with tee times starting at 9 a.m. CT, before continuing Monday and wrapping up with a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday.
1. Last Time Out: The Wisconsin team open its tournament schedule by participating in the JT Poston Invitational held in Waynesville, North Carolina, where they ended up eighth as a team with a score of 14-under par. Joseph Gutierrez, who is a freshman, was the leading player from the Badgers team with a score of five-under par and ending up tied for 18th position. He tallied his best score on the final day of the tournament, which was a 68 (-3) to move up 14 spots on the leaderboard.
2. The Course: The Badger Invitational will take place at the University Ridge Golf Course in Madison. It will play to a par of 72, and the total yardage is 7,289 for the competition. Wisconsin will have the advantage of competing on its home course for its only home tournament of the season.
3. The Tournament: The 2026 Badger Invitational is a 54-hole stroke-play competition that will take place over three rounds. Teams are permitted to have a maximum of five golfers, where only four scores in each round will be considered for the team total. The team with the lowest score after the three rounds will be declared the winner of the event. The first two rounds will have tee shots off Holes 1 and 10, while the third round will commence at 9 a.m with a shotgun start.
4. The Field: In the lineup this week is Joseph Gutierrez, Jason Shwartz, Charlie Erlandson, Cody Guetzke and Drew Sacia, as well as William Harned, Vijay Kumar and James Boustead golfing as individuals. Additionally, Braden Nelson will be competing as an individual over at Pleasant View Golf Course in the Goat Hill Championship. The state of Wisconsin will play host to a 19 team tournament at University Ridge. Apart from the Badgers, other teams participating in this tournament include Appalachian State, Drake, Green Bay, Illinois State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Oakland, Ohio, Omaha, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Southern Miss, St. Thomas, Valparaiso, Western Carolina and Western Kentucky. The Wisconsin Badgers aim to improve on their eighth place finish in the JT Poston Invitational.
5. The Gallery: Badger fans can follow live stats at the Badger Invitational on SCOREBOARD and live updates from Wisconsin at the @BadgerMGolf X page. Fans looking to follow along with the Goat Hill Championship can find live scoring HERE.
