Bradley University Athletics

Men’s Golf Closes Fall Schedule At NIU Intercollegiate

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

NIU Intercollegiate Live Scoring

Men's Golf 10/7/2016 9:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's golf team looks to wrap up what has proven to be one of the most successful Fall seasons in program history Sunday and Monday when the Braves take part in the Northern Illinois Intercollegiate, which will be held at the par-72 Beverly Country Club in Chicago.

The final outing on the 2016 Fall slate features arguably the strongest field Bradley has faced this season. Highlighting the field which includes five teams in the top 100 of the latest Golfweek.com rankings (through Oct. 2), is top-ranked Illinois. The Illini have reached the national semifinals each of the last two years.

The 12-team tournament also includes Big Ten foe and 69th-ranked Indiana along with Big East opponent and 100th-ranked Marquette. The Braves were ranked 99th according to Golfweek.com prior to this week's victory at the Zach Johnson Invitational in Rhodes, Iowa. Missouri Valley Conference rivals Loyola and Drake help make up a field which also features Grand Canyon, North Dakota, Northern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, Western Illinois and Youngstown State.

BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live scoring via BirdieFire throughout the two-day event. Sunday's opening day of play will get underway with an 8:45 a.m. shotgun start and feature two rounds of play. Monday's final round will have tee times starting at 7:45 a.m.

The Braves have placed in the top three in each of their four outings in 2016-17 and have had the individual medalist in three of four tournaments this fall after sophomore Drake Bushong (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) claimed top honors at the Zach Johnson Invite earlier this week.

Bushong and junior Ethan Brue (Chandlerville, Ill./AC Central/Illinois Central) have each paced Bradley twice this year. Brue won medalist honors at each of his first two events as a Brave and has placed in the top five three times. He leads the team with a 72.58 stroke average, while Bushong is just four strokes behind on the year and owns a 72.72 average.

Sophomore Branden Mounce (El Paso, Ill./El Paso-Gridley/Illinois State) is third on the team with a 75.50 stroke average and has posted a 75.09 average over his last 11 rounds since opening his Bradley career with an 80. Mounce tied junior Zach Jewell (Mapleton, Ill./Limestone/Illinois Central) for eighth at the Zach Johnson Invite for his first top-10 finish as a Brave. Jewell has also been steady for Bradley with a 75.58 average through 12 rounds and has now posted two top-10 finishes in 2016.

The Braves are scheduled to open the Spring 2017 slate Feb. 27 & 28 at the Colin Montgomerie Houston Baptist Invitational in Houston, Texas.

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