Golf Heads to Florida for BIG EAST Match Play

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men’s golf team begins its 2025 spring campaign in West Palm Beach, Florida at Bear Lake Country Club in BIG EAST Match Play on Feb. 3-4.

THE EVENT
The Golden Eagles are back in the event for the first time since they won the inaugural competition in 2021 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida and are the top seeded team in the field. Butler, St. John’s, DePaul, UConn, Xavier, Villanova will all compete in addition to MU.

Competition tees off Monday, Feb. 3 at 7 a.m. Central time. Marquette faces Villanova in the first round on Monday morning with second round action to follow in the afternoon. St. John’s and Butler square off in the matchup adjacent to the Golden Eagles in the bracket.

Second-seeded Xavier takes on DePaul, the seventh seed, and third-seeded UConn takes on Creighton, the sixth seed, on the other side of the bracket.

The final round of play is slated for Tuesday morning.

THE COURSE
Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, has hosted three PGA Tour Qualifying Schools, the South Florida PGA Pro-Assistant Championships and U.S. Open Qualifiers. The club features two 18-hole courses designed by Jack Nicklaus.

MARQUETTE LINEUP V. VILLANOVA
Seeded by final fall Scoreboard ranking

• Patrick Adler v. Ryan Palmer (7 a.m. CT)
• Max Lyons v. Matt Zerfass (7:07 a.m.)
• Johan Widal v. Vibhav Alokam (7:14 a.m.)
• Ryan Banas v. Michael Vickers (7:21 a.m.)
• Mason Schmidtke v. Jackson Lehner (7:28 a.m.)
• Vincent Cervantes v. Nathan Marion (7:35 a.m.)
• Will Hemauer v. Joshua Lavely (7:42 a.m.)

Adler vaulted to 40th nationally in Scoreboard’s NCAA men’s golf rankings on the strength of medalist honors at the Windon Memorial Classic and RedHawk Intercollegiate during the fall. Adler collected two BIG EAST Male Golfer of the Week honors in the fall and boasts a team-leading 70.53 scoring average and nine of his 15 rounds this year have been par or better.

Lyons, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year, notched top-20 individual finishes in four of MU’s five events in the fall. His scoring average of 71.87 was second on the team and his six par-or-better rounds tied with Widal for second on the squad. Lyons tied with Widal for the team lead at the Kampen-Cosler Course in the Purdue Invitational in September and tied for third overall at the RedHawk Intercollege at the Pittsburgh Field Club in the penultimate event of the fall.

Widal had a successful fall campaign as a transfer from NCAA Division II Tiffin University in Ohio. He finished first among MU players twice during the fall and tied for fifth overall in the Dayton Flyer Invitational.
Banas made a large leap as a sophomore and is coming off a second-place finish among MU golfers at 3-under par in the Dayton Flyer Invitational to end the fall season. He boasts a 73.00 stroke scoring average and has recorded three rounds in the 60s this season.

Cervantes looks to build on his freshman campaign, in which he’s competed as a member of the MU lineup at each event and has recorded four par-or-better rounds.

Schmidtke and Hemauer were not part of the MU lineup at any events during the fall, but Schmidtke boasts a 72.67 stroke scoring average after playing as an individual in 12 rounds this season.

Keep up with the Marquette men’s golf program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteMGolf) and Instagram (@MarquetteMGolf) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/MarquetteMGolf).

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.