Tournament set for Saturday and Sunday
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Last season saw a stellar improvement for the University of Evansville men’s golf team and the future continues to look bright as the Purple Aces are set to open the 2023-24 campaign this weekend at the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational.
Hosted by Ball State, the tournament consists of 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. Both rounds are slated for a 9 a.m. ET start. Delaware Country Club in Muncie will host the event.
Joining the Aces in the tournament field will be Ball State, Butler, Bowling Green, DePaul, Detroit, Earlham, Oakland, USI and IUPUI. Individuals from Indiana, Purdue and Cincinnati will also be participating.
Senior Nicholas Gushrowski paced UE last season with a 74.08 stroke average, which was 15th in the Missouri Valley Conference. The MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team member show a season-low 69 in the opening round of the conference championship before coming home in 11th place.
Fellow senior Carson Parker was second on the squad with a 74.25 average. He got better as the season went along, culminating in one of the best rounds in school history. In the second round of the MVC Championship, he carded a 67, which was tied for the 4th-lowest score in school history.
Michael Ikejiani, who recorded a 74.43 stroke average last season, was named the MVC Men’s Golfer of the Week on November 3, 2022. That came on the heels of a final-round score of 67 at the Alabama A&M Fall Invite. The score was tied for the 4th-lowest in program history. Ikejiani would go on to match that score in the third round of the TSU Big Blue Intercollegiate in the spring.
