Golf Aims For Sixth BIG EAST Title at Callawassie Island

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men’s golf team heads to Okatie, South Carolina and the Callawassie Island Golf Club for the 2025 BIG EAST Conference Men’s Golf Championships presented by JEEP on April 26-28.

Action at the three-day event will determine the league’s automatic team and individual berths to the May 12-14 NCAA Regionals.

THE EVENT
The Golden Eagles are back at Callawassie Island for the first time since 2019 since they won the event for their fourth BIG EAST crown. MU won its fifth title in 2023 at nearby Riverton Pointe Golf Club in Hardeeville, South Carolina.

Play is scheduled to begin Saturday, April 26, at 7 a.m. Central time. Saturday’s first-round threesomes will be determined by team seedings, while Sunday’s and Monday’s groupings are assembled from the previous day’s leaderboard. Ten BIG EAST schools participate in men’s golf: Butler, UConn, Creighton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier.

For the second straight year, GKLive.TV, will provide online coverage of the Championship. The broadcast is entirely free and users ust have to register to activate an account for the event. The broadcast includes static cameras on 12 of the 18 holes and live commentary and interviews off the 18th green.

Five MU golfers have won six BIG EAST individual titles, most recently Bhoom Sima-Aree at Riverton Pointe in 2023 with a 3-under 213. MU’s best 54-hole mark at the event is a 7-under 209 carded by former PING All-American Hunter Eichhorn at Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course in Bowling Green, Florida in 2021.

THE COURSE
Callawassie Island Golf Club hosted the BIG EAST Men’s Golf Championships from 2014-19 and was slated to host in 2020 before the college golf season ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s event will be held on the Magnolia (front nine) and Dogwood (back nine) courses, designed by the legendary Tom Fazio.

FRONT NINE – The Magnolia Course (virtual tour) from the club website: At 3,564 yards, the Magnolia Course is the longest of our three nines. In order to successfully navigate the course, you must put all of your golf skills to the test. Long, accurate drives, calculated second shots, and precision play of the par 3s will ensure a successful round.

BACK NINE – The Dogwood Course (virtual tour) from the club website:Both your short and long games will be tested on the interesting mix of holes at our Dogwood Course. While golfing on the Dogwood, you’ll surely enjoy the natural beauty of the surrounding marsh vistas, and will likely spot some of the birds and animals who call the island home.

MU has won three team titles at the course (2015, 2017, 2019), while three golfers earned medalist honors (Patrick Sanchez (2015), Matthew Bachmann (2017) and Eichhorn (2018)).

THE LINEUP

1. Max Lyons
2. Patrick Adler
3. Johan Widal
4. Vincent Cervantes
5. Mason Schmidtke
   Alternate: Ryan Banas

The Golden Eagles won four team titles during 2024-25, including three this spring, most recently at the Boilermaker Invitational at Ackerman Allen Golf Course on April 19-20. MU topped Illinois, Purdue, Notre Dame, Indiana and Michigan State, among others, at the event and leads the BIG EAST at No. 46 in the most recent Scoreboard NCAA Division I Men’s College Golf Rankings. MU is 88 spots ahead of the league’s second ranked team, Xavier at 134.

MU has finished first or second in eight of its last nine team events, dating back to a second-place finish on Sept. 29-30 in the Windon Memorial Classic at Conway Farms.

The Golden Eagles boast a deep and talented lineup starting with a pair of seniors who made huge leaps in their game over the past year. It began last summer with Max Lyons winning the 114th Wisconsin State Open, while Patrick Alder took home medalist honors at the 122nd South of Ireland Amateur Open at historic Lahinch in County Clare.

Adler parlayed that experience into individual victories during the fall at the Windon Memorial Classic (Sept. 29-30) and the RedHawk Intercollegiate (Oct. 14-15). He finished tied for third last weekend in the Boilermaker with an 8-under 205 and all three rounds under par.

Adler has a team-best 102 birdies this season alongside five eagles. Johan Widal, a junior in his first year of NCAA Division I, leads MU with seven eagles, while freshman Vincent Cervantes is third on the team with 91 birdies behind Adler and Lyons (93).

Lyons, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year and three-time all-league section, leads MU with a 70.64 stroke scoring average, which is -0.54 strokes to par per round. His scoring average is the second-lowest mark ever for a Golden Eagle and his score-to-par mark has only been bested by two players in program history (Mike Van Sickle and Hunter Eichhorn).

Lyons owns four top-five and five top-10 finishes and has been MU’s steadiest contributor with 26-of-28 counting scores.

Cervantes won the Irish Creek Collegiate (April 7-8) to become the first MU golfer to earn medalist honors since Hunter Eichhorn won the 2018 BIG EAST Individual Championship. He, Widal and Alder (three times) have each earned BIG EAST Male Golfer of the week during this academic year.

The final spot in the MU lineup is held by sophomore Mason Schmidtke who has made steady strides in his game while competing as an individual for most of the year. The native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin was MU’s third finisher in the Irish Creek Collegiate and was fourth on the squad with a 1-over 214 at the Boilermaker. He recorded a 1-under 70 in the first round at Purdue and closed his final round with three consecutive birdies to place ahead of Purdue’s No. 2 golfer on the day.

PREVIOUS BIG EAST INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Patrick Adler
2024: S; -1 (71 (final round))

Max Lyons
2024: T13th (third on MU); +6 (74-78-70—222)
2023: T12th (second on MU); +4 (72-73-75—220)
2022: T17th (fifth on MU); +2 (64*-78-76—218)

Mason Schmidtke
2024: 38th (fourth on MU); +14 (79-76-75—230)

*BIG EAST Championship 18-hole record

PREVIOUS BIG EAST TEAM FINISHES
*at Callawassie Island
2024: 4 (+17, 291-302-288—881)
2023: 1st (+9, 293-279-301—873)
2022: 2nd (-12, 281-289-282—852)
2021: 2nd (+11, 286-293-296—875)
2020: No Event
2019: 1st (+8, 303-288-271—872)*
2018: 2nd (+25, 290-306-291—884)*
2017: 1st (+35, 204-209-286—899)*
2016: 4th (+34, 299-293-306—898)*
2015: 1st (+33, 304-297-296—897)*
2014: 2nd (+28, 295-300-297—892)*
2013: 7th (+27, 292-305-294—891)
2012: 8th (+34, 299-301-298—898)
2011: T-7th (+52, 304-303-297—904)
2010: T-9th (+43, 306-288-301—895)
2009: 2nd (-12, 292-287-273—852)
2008: 1st (+10, 291-288-295—874)
2007: 4th (+8, 290-294-288—872)
2006: 3rd (-18, 285-278-283—846)

BIG EAST MEDALISTS – MARQUETTE
2023: Bhoom Sima-Aree (-3, 73-68-72—213)
2021: Hunter Eichhorn (-7, 68-71-70—209)
2018: Hunter Eichhorn (-2, 69-73-72—214)*
2017: Matthew Bachmann (E, 73-71-72—216)*
2015: Patrick Sanchez (-1, 73-73-69—215)*
2008: Ted Gray (-5, 68-68-75—211)

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.