Late Birdies Lift Flanagan to Victory; Gophers Tie for 3rd

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Jared Wilson of Kent State birdied four the first six holes at Purdue's Kampen Golf Course on Sunday, and another birdie at the 14th hole put him in a tie for the individual lead with the 36-hole leader, Minnesota senior Angus Flanagan. But Flanagan birdied his 16th and 17th holes of the day to regain the lead and claim medalist honors at the Boilermaker Invitational. 

Flanagan, a senior from Woking, England, led from wire to wire. He made his only bogey of the day on his last hole for a 3-under 69 and a 54-hole total of 207 (9 under). Wilson shot 67 on Sunday to finish at 208. His teammate Cade Breitenstine turned in a second straight 70 to claim third place at 212.

After that, the leaderboard got crowded. There was a five-way tie for fourth place at 213, and the Gophers' Ben Warian, a freshman from Hill-Murray, was part of another five-way tie, for ninth, at 214. 

Thanks in no small part to Wilson and Breitenstine, Kent State came from two behind in the final round to edge Illinois by two strokes and win the team championship with a total of 852. Illinois was second at 854, and Minnesota tied Purdue for third at 859. Illinois was the only one of eight Big Ten teams in the 16-team field to finish ahead of the Gophers.

The Big Ten Conference Championships will be played later this month (April 30-May 2) at Crooked Stick GC in Carmel, Indiana. 

Flanagan is the defending Big Ten champ, having won the tournament as a junior in 2019, the last time it was played. Last year's conference tournament was canceled because of the Covid 19 pandemic. 

On Sunday, Flanagan started his round on the sixth hole and made two pars before birdying the 406-yard, par-4 eighth. He made another birdie at the 483-yard, par-4 11th and then made 10 pars in a row. 

Meanwhile, Wilson, a junior from Columiana, Ohio, who started at No. 1, birdied the first, second, fourth and sixth holes. That got him to within a stroke of Flanagan, and when Wilson birdied the 14th hole (385 yards, par 4), he and Flanagan were tied for the lead. Flanagan pulled ahead with a birdie on another long par-4, the 482-yard third hole, and followed it with a birdie at the 534-yard, par-5 fourth.

Flanagan made only four bogeys in 54 holes. Two of them came at Kampen's 230-yard, par-3 fifth, and it was there that Flanagan's bogey-free run of 17 holes ended on Sunday. But like Hideki Matsuyam, who was winning 750 miles away at Augusta, Ga., on Sunday afternoon, Flanagan had one shot to spare on his last hole, because Wilson concluded his round with four consecutive pars.

Warian, who also started at No. 7, was 3 under through 11 holes, before making a double bogey at the 484-yard, par-4 18th. But he birdied the par-5 fourth and sixth holes, with a bogey at the fifth sandwiched in between. By going 1 under for his last three holes, he moved up five spots and finished with a 70.

Flanagan, who won the only two tournaments he played in Minnesota last year -- the State Open and the Minnesota Golf Champions -- now has three victories on his college golf resume. In 2019, he won Macdonald Cup, in addition to that year's Big Ten championship.

He has a lot of golf on his schedule during the next month. The Gophers will play in the Git R Done Husker Invitational next weekend in Lincoln, Neb., and two weeks after that, Flanagan will defend his Big Ten individual crown. Then he will head for Juno, Fla., to play for the Great Britain & Ireland side in the 2021 Walker Cup Matches, which will be contested the weekend of May 8-9 at iconic Seminole Golf Club.      


MEN'S COLLEGE GOLF

Boilermaker Invitational

At Kampen Golf Course

Par 72, 7,465 yards

West Lafayette, Ind. 

Final results

1. Kent State                      295-278-279--852

2. Illinois                             289-282-283--854

T3. Minnesota                    281-292-386--859

T3. Purdue                         282-288-289--859

5. Indiana                           280-286-294--860

6. Illinois State                   285-298-289--872

7. Michigan State               287-293-299--879

8. Wisconsin                       293-289-299--881

9. Northwestern                  296-295-291--882

10. Ohio State                    288-298-298--884

11. Eastern Michigan         294-294-298--886

T12. Toledo                        300-300-291--891

T12. Southern Illinois         297-298-296--891

14. Cincinnati                     297-286-310--893

15. Miami (Ohio)                308-298-296--902

16. Ball State                     309-293-301--903

Individuals 

1. Angus Flanagan, Minnesota       68-70-69--207

2. Jared Wilson, Kent State               73-68-67--208

3. Cade Breitenstine, Kent State        72-70-70--212

T4. A. Dumont de Chassart, Kent St. 70-72-71--213

T4. Joe Weiler, Purdue                       69-73-71--213

T4. Clay Merchent, Indiana                72-67-74--213

T4. Sam Anderson, Wisconsin           71-70-72--213

T4. John Driscoll, Northwestern         70-71-72--213

T9. Ben Warian, Minnesota              70-74-70--214

T33. Thomas Longbella, Minn.        70-77-74--221

T48. Lincoln Johnson, Minnesota   73-71-81--225

T48. Harrison Arnold, Minnesota    74-78-73--225