Early in the college golf season, first impressions are key. A pair of players aced that assignment on Oct. 6 at the aptly-named Put Me In Coach Invitational.
In the women’s division, Miami senior Rebekah Gardner gave credit to her putter after edging Hurricane teammate Anna Behnsen at Delaware Country Club in Muncie, Indiana. Gardner’s rounds of 73-69-71 left her at 3 under for the week, six shots better than Behnsen.
“This has definitely been one of the best putting tournaments I’ve had in awhile and definitely my scrambling as well,” Gardner said, acknowledging that her short game made up for the fairways and greens she missed.
Normally, Gardner displays more accuracy than she did at Delaware CC, but noted that those misses allowed her to see
improvements in other areas of her game.
Miami has competed in three team events so far this fall and in its season-opener, the Boilermaker Classic. Gardner hasn’t traveled with the team.
“We have a very strong team this year, the strongest it’s been in a long time,” she said, “but I’m just very grateful for that because we push each other every single day and everyone is just so fun to be around. Definitely, it just makes me better. Although maybe it hasn’t gone my way so far this semester I’m proud of how I’ve kept working. Finally, this week I showed what I can do.”
Since arriving at Miami in 2023, the Northern Irish player feels she has gotten mentally tougher and become an all-around better player.
“You don’t have to hit the perfect shot all the time,” she noted, adding that she has worked hard on her self-belief.
Jim Garren, assistant women’s golf coach at Miami, notes that it has been hard to break into a strong Hurricanes lineup. Gardner, however, is on the rise after a summer in which she didn’t play her best golf.
“She has all the skills to produce at this level and now she’s a collegiate winner,” Garren said. “Hopefully this gives her the confidence to bust in there and make her mark.”
In the men’s competition, Indiana senior Neri Checcucci did the bulk of his work with a second-round 65 and ultimately prevailed by five shots. As Checcucci, from Italy, said of that second round, “Every putt was falling in.”
It marks his lowest score in a college tournament, though Checcucci once posted a round of 64 at a junior tournament in France.
Checcucci said he felt that the greens were Delaware CC’s best defense, and he approached with caution a couple of key holes.
“Definitely hole 12 is challenging and for me, I cut the ball quite a lot – hole 5 wasn’t the best because it’s not easy,” he said. “You cannot start a ball left and make it cut back in the fairway so I’d say those two holes were the hardest ones.”
Checcucci opened with a round of 2-over 72 and after his second-round 65, he came back the next day with a bogey on his first hole. That was a result of three-putting from the fringe, and he didn’t let it derail his day or his tournament.
“Thankfully my coach helped me to stay calm and then I knew I had a good chance on Nos. 3 and 4 to make two birdies,” he said.
He added a birdie on No. 7 to make the turn with 1-under 34, added a 3-over 38 coming home and took the title – his first in a college golf tournament.
“A win is a win no matter how big the field is,” he said. “Feels pretty good.”
The Put Me In Coach Invitational is now in its third year, and has helped launch the seasons of two previous winners. In 2024, Virgilio Paz went on to become a major factor for Missouri after winning the Put Me In Coach title in a playoff. Last year’s champion, Michigan State’s Julian Menser, also entered the lineup later in the season and then won the Hoosier Amateur over the summer.
For Checcucci, this marks a breakthrough and one he hopes will inspire its own “put me in, Coach” moment.
“My game a couple weeks ago didn’t feel good at all, especially because my drive wasn’t on point,” he said. “Last week I had a little bit of a change and felt good about it this week. That’s pretty much the thing that kept me off the other tournaments so far is my driver. I think I can show the coach I can hit it and get it pretty straight and far and shoot low scores.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Put Me In Coach Invitational: Rebekah Gardner, Neri Checcucci score statement wins
