Cervantes is Medalist and MU Wins Irish Creek Collegiate

KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina — Marquette University freshman men’s golfer Vincent Cervantes fired a 6-under 64 in Tuesday’s final round of the Irish Creek Collegiate to earn his first career medalist honor and the Golden Eagles outpaced the tournament field by 13 strokes to win their third event of the year.

Cervantes posted a clean card with six birdies on Tuesday and outlasted Charleston Southern’s Layne Lambert on two playoff holes (Nos. 18 and 1) to break a tie for the individual title. The native of Chandler, Arizona is the first MU freshman to win an individual crown since former Marquette All-American Hunter Eichhhorn claimed the 2018 BIG EAST Individual Championship at Callawassie Island.

The 15 competing squads played just 18 holes of 36 scheduled holes due to weather on Monday and the event is MU’s second this spring featuring just 36 total holes. The Johnnie-O at Sea Island’s Seaside Course on March 17-18 was also shortened due to weather in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

The Golden Eagles entered the day four strokes behind Morehead State and combined to shoot a 9-under 271 on Tuesday, which included a 4-under 66 from junior Johan Widal and a 2-under 68 from senior Max Lyons. Lyons was tied with the pair late on Tuesday prior to a bogey on the par-4 16th hole and tied for third. Lambert led Lyons by two strokes and Cervantes by five following Monday’s opening round.

Lyons recorded a team-best four birdies on Monday and was the lone Golden Eagle under par through 18 holes. The native of Phoenix, Arizona was coming off the two best finishes of his collegiate career over the past month at Sea Island (third) and the Bell Bank “Pay it Forward” Collegiate (second) on March 17-18 and 24-25, respectively. Nine of the 10 rounds he has carded this spring have been under par.

Cervantes has also been playing his best golf of late. His 64 on Tuesday is a collegiate best and seven of the 10 rounds he has played this spring have been par-or-better.

The tournament was a play-six, count-four team event and sophomore Mason Schmidtke contributed to the team effort for the first time this season. He placed third on MU with a 4-over 144 at Irish Creek.

Including this week’s team title and crowns at the RedHawk Intercollegiate at Pittsburgh Field Club (Oct. 14-15) and BIG EAST Match Play at Bear Lakes Country Club (Feb. 3-4) earlier this season, MU has finished in the top-two of seven events this academic year.

1. Marquette, -5 (284-271—655)
1. Vincent Cervantes, -4 (72-64—136)
T3. Max Lyons, -3 (69-68—137)
T16. Mason Schmidtke, +4 (71-73—144)
T31. Ryan Banas, +7 (72-75—147)
T37. Patrick Adler, +8 (72-76—148)
T37. Johan Widal, +8 (82-66—148)

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles head to West Lafayette, Indiana for their final event of the regular season, the Spring Boilermaker, on April 19-20 at the Ackerman Allen Golf Course.

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.