#2 Vanderbilt, #11 Arizona, #15 Florida, #23 New Mexico, San Diego State, Mississippi State, College of Charleston, Stetson, Colorado State, Southern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, and rival Indiana will join host #30 Purdue at Kampen-Cosler golf course for the NCAA Regionals that will take place from May 13-15th.
Tee times will start off at 8:00 A.M. with Purdue going off the back nine to start the first day of competition. The top five teams from the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships.
Low five individuals will also advance to the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa (North Course) in Carlsbad, California.
It’s been seven years since the last time Purdue’s Men Golf team advanced to the NCAA Championship, the last time the Boilermakers hosted an NCAA Regional.
Led by PGA Tour U. top-20 player and Big Ten Golfer of the Year, Herman Sekne, Purdue looks to use its home course advantage to return to the NCAA Championships after finishing the season with a school record scoring average on its way to seven top-3 finishes in 10 events this year.
Purdue’s duo of courses, Ackerman-Allen and Kampen-Cosler courses, are no strangers to hosting big events.
Kampen-Cosler alone has hosted multiple Big Ten Championships in the last two decades, a Western Junior Championship, NCAA Regionals in 2004, 2017, and an NCAA Championship in 2008.
Head Golf Professional at Birck Boilermaker Complex, Daniel Ross, knows his courses as well as anyone. He’s been in charge of things at Purdue since 2004.
“The one advantage that we have at Purdue is basically the fact that we’ve hosted a lot of these before,” Ross said about getting the course ready to host the NCAA Regionals.
The Birck Boilermaker Complex has been building a new, state of the art clubhouse that will sit in between the two golf courses. That construction has chewed up parking space availability at Kampen-Cosler, which means that Kampen-Cosler has been members only for the last year. Purdue went even farther to prepare its course for the regionals, closing the course to everyone not on the Purdue teams.
It has left Kampen in extraordinary shape.
“The course is always in great condition,” Ross said. “And then you take it from great condition to an exceptional condition when we start focusing so heavily on a tournament like this. Kyle Post and the whole crew with maintenance just take this to a whole new level.”
Kampen is a links style course, tucked next to the Wabash river on its left side with two holes on the back nine playing right up against the water hazard. The par-3 13th and par-4 14th are two of the more gettable holes on the course despite the danger left. Along with the shorter par-4 on 15 that offers a heather covered hill left of the fairway that blocks the view of the green, this three hole stretch is the final reprieve before Pete Dye’s cruel, to crueler, to cruelest finishing punches on the course that’s decided more than one tournament.
“16-18, that’s how Pete designed it,” Ross said about the famous course designer who is responsible for the re-designed Kampen course. “He was obviously wise in doing so. Those three holes, especially if there’s a tough wind, they can really define what happens.”
Kampen’s defenses range from fairway long waste bunkers and heather, long, intimidating tee shots, and greens that are difficult for their subtlety and guarded approach shots.
Even the holes that look manageable have teeth like hole 7, a par-4 that should play under four-hundred yards with two fairways to choose from, but between the two fairways is long grass, heather, uneven lies, and two pot bunkers that look ripped straight from Ireland.
Knowing the course will be an advantage for Purdue.
“It’s a big advantage,” Purdue head coach Rob Bradley said. “Knowing the golf course, knowing the reads on the greens, knowing where all the trouble is… it’s a huge advantage. Different lay ups on the par fives, there’s just certain things that we work on out there that basically guys have just one day to prepare for.”
Even if the course will be as difficult for everyone playing, the final two holes at Kampen loom large with intimidating, long tee shots with lots of water and danger.
“They’re tough, especially 17-18,” Herman Senke says about the course he’s called home after one of Purdue’s most decorated careers at Purdue. The senior from Oslo, Norway is a three time All-B10 player, a future professional, and the 18th ranked player in the world according to PGA Tour U.
“17 is really long for a par 3 and we’ve got water up the right,” Senke said. “And 18 now with the new tee box added on, it’s really long. I think a lot of people that haven’t seen the golf course before is gonna be intimidated by it. But I think seeing it a lot is gonna help us.”
Purdue’s home course isn’t the only advantage it’ll rely on for the three days. Senke is already one of the world’s best ball strikers, and this will be his last chance to make it to the NCAA Championships both as a team and on his own.
“He’s one of the best players that’s ever played here,” Bradley said of his star, Senke. “The sky’s the limit for him. He’s already probably a top ball striker in the world. He hits it so good. He’s so long.”
He’ll need every bit of distance going up against a Kampen course that can reach 7500 yards from the tips.
Senke’s final NCAA Regionals will hopefully be a proper send off with the local community getting a chance to watch the teams compete for free Monday through Wednesday.
“The amount of people we have volunteering for the event and I’ve heard from so many people that told me they are coming out,” Bradley said. “Obviously that’s awesome, and it’s great to showcase our facility. It’s one of the top facilities in the country. Our administration is really behind gold and for them to be able to host a regional and close the gold course down to let us prepare out there and get it in the condition we want to get it in. Our superintendent staff is amazing with the condition – this is the best I’ve seen Kampen in.”
Alongside Sekne, Nels Surtani is second on the team in stroke average with the tenth best mark in school history at 72.21. Surtani was voted second team All-Big Ten and won the elite Puerto Rico Classic. Talented freshman, Sam Easterbrook, has three top-10 finishes in his last six events, playing the best golf of his career. Easterbrook’s stroke average is the best of any freshman in Purdue history.