Warian and Galdos Help Gopher Men to Fifth-Place Finish at Gopher Invite

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  MAPLE PLAIN, Minn. – Behind senior Ben Warian and junior Eduardo Galdos, the University of Minnesota men’s golf team posted a team tally of 288 Monday at Windsong Farm Golf Club to place fifth at the 2023 Gopher Invitational.

The Gophers dropped one spot on the leaderboard during the final round, but managed to notch a top-10 finish for a 13th time in the 18-year history of the championship.

“A great field—you look at yesterday and we had 11 or 12 teams within 11 shots of each other,” said Gopher head coach Justin Smith, who enters his fifth year at the helm this week. “We knew coming into today that the course was going to be set up a little harder. Got off to a great start, but didn’t finish the way we wanted to.

“It’s a great learning experience. Our goal coming in was to get into contention. I can’t wait to keep building and getting better.”

Minnesota began its lone home tournament of the season in a share of third place after 36 holes of play Sunday before shooting a 4-over 288 on the final day to move back a spot.

The Gophers finished fourth a season ago, but claimed a second straight top-5 finish for the first time since 2014—an encouraging sign for Smith moving forward.

“These guys work hard and have great attitudes. They really want it and are in it for the right reasons. We have a mature core group that will lead us all year,” Smith said. “We have one of the best players in the conference [in Warian] week in and week out. We’re fortunate to have him and his impact on the other guys will be huge.

“I think we proved, at least for 45 holes, that we can be as good as anybody. We just have to play 54 holes now.”

Warian, who placed in a tie for third at the Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Championship at Minneapolis Golf Club in July, began the championship early Sunday with a 2-over 73 before bouncing back with a 1-under 70.

Bogeying the first hole of the day Monday, Warian answered by playing his next 10 holes in 4-under before a late bogey put him in the clubhouse with teammate Galdos at 1-under 212.

“Better finish today, but unfortunately, made too many mistakes tee-to-green,” Warian said following his final round Monday. “I had a couple of big numbers yesterday morning that didn’t help, but overall, I fought it out and posted three scores.”

Warian finished the 2022-23 season by placing fifth at the Big Ten Championship to advance to the NCAA Bath Regional, where he finished 11th.

The former Hill-Murray standout then claimed three straight top-20 finishes at the Northeast Amateur, the North and South Amateur and the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championships.

Warian went on to place 17th at the Pacific Coast Amateur before closing out his summer season by finishing 30th at the Canadian Amateur.

“It was great to get some good experience this summer,” he said. “I had some solid finishes and got into the mix a couple of times against some really good players.

“I just need to keep the pedal down. Going out this summer against those fields, there’s no option to have a bad stretch, you just have to keep fighting through it. I have some things to clean up from this week, but hope to keep it going through the fall.”

Galdos, from Lima, Peru, posted a second-round 68 late Sunday, bookended by a pair of 1-over 72s to finish 11th for the second straight season.

The Gophers got help from junior Bennett Swavely, who carded back-to-back rounds of 1-over 72 before carding an even par 71 Monday, despite a double-bogey on his final hole to place tied for 25th at 2-over 215.

Led by Walker Isley and Patrick Sparks, who finished second and third, respectively, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington fired a final-round team score of 845 to claim a five-stroke victory over Kent State University.

Despite a double-bogey on his 14th hole Monday, University of Kansas sophomore Will King rallied with a birdie at the par-3 17th to post a final round 71 to earn a one-stroke victory for his first collegiate win.

The Gophers will travel to Northfield, Ill., Sept. 25-26 to compete at the Windon Memorial at Sunset Ridge Country Club.



THE 2023 GOPHER INVITATIONAL
WINDSONG FARM GOLF CLUB
MAPLE PLAIN, MINN.
7,543 YARDS, PAR 71


MONDAY’S FINAL TEAM RESULTS
1. Univ. of North Carolina-Wilmington, 284-279-282—845
2. Kent State, 284-284-282—850
3. Kansas, 286-280-287—853
4. Marquette Univ., 286-284-284—854
T5. MINNESOTA, 285-278-292—855
T5. Northwestern, 285-278-292—855
7. Rutgers, 286-281-289—856
8. Notre Dame, 292-278-287—857
9. West Virginia, 289-281-288—858
T10. Northern Illinois, 294-285-287—866
T10. Iowa State, 298-276-292—866
12. Miami Univ., 286-283-298—867
13. Utah, 292-282-296—870
14. Furman, 298-294-295—887


MONDAY’S FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Will King, Kansas, 68-66-71—205
2. Walker Isley, UNCW, 69-67-70—206
3. Patrick Sparks, UNCW, 73-68-67—208
4. Jacob Modleski, Notre Dame, 71-70-68—209
5. Cade Breitenstine, Kent State, 71-69-70—210
T6. Max Green, West Virginia, 73-68-70—211
T6. Edvin Backstrom, Kent State, 69-72-70—211
T6. Jordan Gilkison, Kent State, 70-69-72—211
T6. Max Lyons, Marquette, 69-70-72—211
T6. Gray Mitchum, UNCW, 68-71-72—211

T11. BEN WARIAN, MINNESOTA, 73-70-69—212
T11. EDUARDO GALDOS, MINNESOTA, 72-68-72—212
T25. BENNETT SWAVELY, MINNESOTA, 72-72-71—215
T31. JACOB PEDERSEN, MINNESOTA, 70-70-76—216
T31. JACK WETZEL, MINNESOTA, 70-70-75—216 (played as individual)
T37. CECIL BELISLE, KANSAS, 72-72-73—217
T37. NATE STEVENS, NOTRE DAME, 73-71-73—217
T40. MASON ROLOFF, MINNESOTA, 76-71-71—218 (played as individual)
T45. GUNNAR BROIN, KANSAS, 73-72-74—219
T62. GAVIN HAGSTROM, MINNESOTA, 77-75-73—225 (played as individual)
T68. BROCK WINTER, MINNESOTA, 76-75-77—228
71. CORMAC SHARPE, MINNESOTA, 77-73-79—229 (played as individual)
73. KYLER SCHWAMB, MINNESOTA, 75-78-82—235 (played as individual)


For complete tournament results go to:  https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=28142