Purdue Fort Wayne
Summit League Championship
Imel Leads 'Dons to Best Summit League Finish in Program History
4/19/2011 9:49:00 PM | Men's Golf
PRIMM, Nev. - Firing the third-lowest team score in program history at 283, the IPFW Mastodons climbed to fourth as a team at the 2011 Summit League Championship - the program's best finish during its time as a Division I program.
In just two seasons under head coach Billy King, the program has risen from the bottom rung of the league after a 10th place finish in 2009. A big part of the program's transformation is a stellar sophomore class that led the Mastodons on their final round ascent up the leaderboard.
Every player in the lineup turned in the best finish of their career in the championship event.
Leading that charge was sophomore Drew Imel. The Bluffton, Ind. native carded a three-under 69 in final round action to finish in a tie for sixth place in the league, just one stroke away from being named to the five-man All-Tournament team. Imel fired four birdies on the front nine and opened the back with another before closing out his round with his third birdie in as many rounds on the par five 18th.
Left off of both the regular season and tournament accolade lists, Imel's performance on the biggest stage of the season did not surprise Coach King.
"Drew is, day-in and day-out, a tremendous player and amazing student of the game," said King. "In my book, he is and will continue to be one of this league's top players. He has two more years ahead of him in his career and the kind of things he and his teammates are capable of accomplishing at IPFW before they're done are tremendous."
Imel's sixth place finish is five strokes and two places better than his showing a season ago as a freshman. His three-round total of 216 was even-par for the event.
Playing in his final Summit League Championship, senior Ryan Olbin turned in the best finish of his four-year career in the event after a final round 71. In a tie for 20th after the first day, Olbin's one-under round came on three birdies as the senior made up for a double-bogey on 12 with a rock-solid showing that included 14 pars. He finished in a tie for 14th place.
Bruno Carvalho, another member of the stellar sophomore class, shot a two-under 70 on the 7,131-yard Desert Course at Primm Valley Golf Club. The native of Pelotas, Brazil posted five of his 10 birdies in the tournament on his final round as he moved from 24th to 17th place in the third round. He closed the event with a six-over 222.
Tomaz Pinheiro checked in with a tie for 29th place as the fourth scorer in the Mastodon lineup. Closing out the tournament at ten-over after tallying his best round of the week, Pinheiro's one-over 73 used birdies on six, seven and 18 to recover from a first hole double-bogey. The 29th place finish was his first in the event after narrowly missing the IPFW lineup as a freshman.
Rounding out the IPFW lineup was newcomer Patrick Kundenreich. The freshman turned in first day rounds of 78 and 77 before posting a three-over 75 in final round play. Three birdies on the front nine were enough to settle the youngster in with a tie for 35th place in the first league championship of his career.
Finishing at +21 on the tournament's 216 holes of scoring, the Mastodons edged defending champion and 2010 NCAA Tournament participant Oral Roberts by a single stroke. As a team, IPFW finished the final round at five-under overall and, after opening day scores of 301 and 301, were able to jump Western Illinois on the leaderboard.
Tuesday's 283 was the third lowest single-round score posted by any team in the event as IPFW battled their way to a fourth place finish - the best in program history.
UMKC fired a four-under team score of 860 overall to capture the team title, ahead of Southern Utah and IUPUI who each tied at +6. The Mastodons checked in fourth, followed by Oral Roberts, Western Illinois, South Dakota State, Oakland, North Dakota State and Centenary.
IUPUI's Michael Powell pulled a come-from-behind victory to take medalist honors with an eight-under 208 on the championship and final round 67. All four of the champion Kangaroo team members finished inside of the top ten.
"I had a handful of coaches come up to me today and compliment me and this program on how far we've come and the kind of kids we have competing out there on the golf course," said King. "That's the highest compliment to me, coming from my peers, and I'm really proud to be a part of what these guys are doing out there on the course."
Imel also noted the rise of the program.
"We've all been able to see the growth of this thing not only on today's leaderboard, but also in the day-to-day stuff we're doing to get better. I'm not sure that kind of thing is going on in every program," said Imel. "This year definitely feels like a stepping stone for us. We went from 10th to fifth and now fifth to fourth, so we all see what we need to do to get better and be where we know we can be."
The Mastodons will return to the links for one final time this week upon their return from Las Vegas. They will play Saturday and Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind. at the Boilermaker Invitational. The final tournament of the year is hosted by Kampen Golf Club.
~Dons~
