Kumar Named Big Ten Golfer of the Week, Finishes 2nd at Annual Johnnie-O

SEA ISLAND, Georgia — The Rutgers men’s golf team completed their third annual hosted tournament, the Johnnie-O on Tuesday, and senior captain Noah Kumar was the star of the tournament.

Kumar was named the Big Ten Conference’s Golfer of the Week on Thursday afternoon following his outstanding effort in Georgia this week.

 

Kumar, who finished seven under par, propelled himself to second place after a stellar second-round performance that saw him go five under par, hitting par or better on 17 of 18 holes in round two. Kumar recorded 33 of 36 holes at or below par to earn his second runner-up finish of the season. The last Rutgers Golfer of the Week was Xavier Marcoux (Sept. 28, 2022).

 

“I really played solid golf, from tee to green,” said Kumar. “I caught some heat in the second round, a couple of putts dropped and I made some solid puts to finish my first round and just kept that going for the second round. I was in control of the tournament on the back nine on the last day.”

 

Kumar said he had some great vibes on the course with head coach Rob Shutte and new assistant coach Patrick Spraggs alongside him. 

Hole ten in round two is where Kumar found his groove. After a tee shot ended up in thick fescue and rough, Kumar, with help from  Spraggs, decided to take a shot at the green rather than play a drop. Kumar said it was his favorite shot of the tournament.

“The ball landed at about 15 feet on the green, and to walk out with par after that was a sigh of relief,” Kumar said. “I knew if I could pick up some type of momentum through that second day I could really keep it rolling throughout the tournament.” 

 

Shutte knew from early on that Kumar was in for a big week.

“I texted Coach Spraggs and said that I could see it in [Noah’s] eyes, he’s so locked in this week,” said Shutte. “He finished fourth here two years ago, so I knew he had a lot of confidence coming back here, and that was proven out by his play.”

 

Despite many obstacles during the week, namely round one being played over two days due to high winds and round three being cancelled, the Scalet Knights still found success. Three other Scarlet Knights, Weston Jones, Bennett Espenshade, and Derek Gutierrez all finished in the top 50.

 

Kumar’s and the team’s success is the perfect capstone to an important annual tradition for…