Buchanan Claims Share of Title at Purdue Fall Invitational

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 9-ranked Fighting Illini men’s golf team rose four spots up the team standings in the final round of the Purdue Fall Invitational on Tuesday, finishing in a third-place tie behind a co-medalist performance from junior Jackson Buchanan at the Ackerman-Allen Golf Course.

The victory marked the second collegiate win in a 54-hole, stroke-play event for Buchanan who won Missouri’s Tiger Collegiate Invitational in record-setting fashion last April for his first, before closing his sophomore campaign as the runner-up in stroke play at the NCAA Championship in May. 

“Jackson is a returning All-American who has been in this program for two years and has grown a lot during that time,” head coach Mike Small said. “He’s starting to understand what it means to bring it on a consistent basis, and this week he was among the favorites to contend, and he backed it up with good play and won. That’s the maturation of a young player, to face those expectations and to stay mentally strong through periods of adversity, and then back it up with a win says a lot about his development.”

Buchanan’s share of medalist honors came in come-from-behind fashion as he ascended three spots up the individual leaderboard late in Round 3 by playing his final 13 holes bogey-free with four birdies. The junior ultimately secured co-medalist honors with a birdie on his final hole of the day to complete the five-stroke comeback and catch Illinois State’s Valentin Peugnet, who shared medalist honors after entering the day with a two-stroke edge over the rest of the field. 

Behind Buchanan, true freshman Max Herendeen continued his solid play to open his collegiate career by finishing tied for sixth. Herendeen’s 209 (-4) surpassed the 211 (-5) he posted in his debut last month in a runner-up finish (via playoff) at the Sahalee Players Championship. 

 

Beyond Buchanan and Herendeen, however, the depth of the Illini’s five-man lineup not enough to chase the team’s second team victory of the fall. 

“We go into every event looking to win, but this week we did not put ourselves into position after the first day, and it made it difficult on us today,” Small added “We needed to come out on point today early, and we didn’t do that. It was a sluggish and sloppy performance by us, overall. When you have two players finish…