Junior golfer Martin ties for 1st in Illinois

Last week at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate, junior Alex Martin didn’t even crack the top 25, falling in the final round to tie for 28th overall and third-best among Hoosier golfers.
What a difference a week makes.

This weekend at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, Martin not only finished first for the Hoosiers, but he finished in a tie for first overall with a 1-under, 209 total score. Martin’s score also helped the team to a runner-up finish to champion Illinois.

The one golfer Martin could not beat was Zach Barlow of Illinois.

But Martin did top 73 other golfers from an elite field, including defending NCAA Champions UCLA, which pleased IU coach Mike Mayer.

“He played in a field with some of the premier players in the country,” Mayer said. “It is quite an accomplishment.”

Martin said he was excited to break his previous best 54-hole total of 215, which he set at last year’s Pinehurst Intercollegiate.

“It felt good to break through finally,” he said. “It was also good to come through and help the team out.”

Illinois carded a total of 852 for 12-over par. IU was 11 strokes behind the Illini and had a final-round score of 283, which represented the third-best of any round all weekend.

Martin wasn’t the only Hoosier to record a top-10 finish, as senior Jorge Campillo, the champion at last week’s intercollegiate, finished in a tie for seventh.

Campillo improved every round and capped the tournament off with a 1-under-par final round for a total score of 213, which was 3-over par.

Fellow senior Seth Brandon recorded a top-25 finish with a total score of 217.
Rounding out the scoring spots for the Hoosiers, freshman Chase Wright scored a 14-over par 224 and was 39th overall.

Wright, who competed in his first collegiate tournament, said he enjoyed playing at such a good golf course.

“It couldn’t be a better place to start my collegiate experience,” Wright said. “To know I contributed was really cool. I will now go back and continue to grow and keep working hard.”

Mayer said he thought Wright handled a difficult situation very well.

The Hoosiers were paired in the final grouping with Illinois and Oklahoma State to finish the tournament. Martin did not play with Barlow, and therefore did not know the results as he approached the final few holes.

After such a strong tournament, Martin said he thinks it will do wonders for his
confidence.

“I know I can play with the best of them,” he said.

Mayer said he was encouraged by the play of his team from start to finish.

“We had a good solid tournament from the first putt to the last putt,” Mayer said.