Another record-breaking season by the 2022-23 edition of Bluffton University Men's Golf has the Beavers excited to be back on links despite six seniors departing following their graduation at Belterra Casino during the Heartland Conference Championship. Bluffton returns three of its top six scoring leaders, setting the Beavers up for another season with the records primed to fall.
The centerpiece for Bluffton is fifth-year senior Evan Kujawa (Toledo/Whitmer) who led the Beavers with a 77.30 scoring average which propelled him to third on the all-time season scoring list! Kujawa earned HCAC Player of the Week honors after his 147 secured a first-place tie and broke his own school record by two strokes at the Beaver Fall Classic. He rallied from six strokes down to force a playoff before falling to Wooster's Krishang Nayak on the first extra hole. His 71 tied Kujawa for sixth all-time at Bluffton (18 holes). Kujawa was one of just four men from the HCAC to be recognized for his work in the clasroom and on the links, becoming the first male in Bluffton history to be a GCAA All-America Scholars for NCAA Division III.
Juniors Hunter Jolliff (Elida) and Brayden Tosi (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) averaged 80.63 and 82.85, respectively. They will be counted on to carry the load with Kujawa and both have the tools in their respective toolboxes to do just that. Jolliff fired rounds of 76 three times, while Tosi shot a season-best 75 at the Bluffton Spring Inivtational.
Sophomore Noah Macke (Columbus Grove) makes it four returners for Bluffton which also welcomes three freshman to the 2023-24 men's golf squad.
Bluffton shot its top two 18-hole scores in school history with a 295 (+15) and a 300 (+12) in 2022-23! It's 944 at the HCAC Championship just missed the 54-hole mark by one stroke and a 622 at Alice Lloyd came in 2nd all-time for 36 holes. Kujawa and Dominic Castelvetere both shot rounds of 71 last season and Kujawa's scoring average of 77.30 placed him 3rd all-time at Bluffton, less than one stroke off Scott Bergman's school-record 76.85. The 147 that Kujawa put up at the Beaver Fall Classic gives him the top three 36-hole scores in Bluffton history.
Round one of the 2023-24 campaign is slated for Friday, Sept. 1, when the Beavers travel to Olivet for the Lou Collins Memorial. Bluffton will host the Beaver Fall Classic on September 30 and October 1, before the fall caps off on October 23-24 at the Region V Showcase.
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