Julian Menser, who had never seen the Pfau Course at Indiana University before this week, can certainly see where the teeth of the notoriously difficult layout would come out. It’s just that, playing in Golfweek’s Hoosier Amateur on July 28-30, he didn’t experience it that way – and that made all the difference.
“I knew it was hard, everyone said it was hard, but when you’re playing good, even hard golf courses sometimes don’t feel that difficult,” said Menser, who is about to enter his junior year at Michigan State. “But the second you start hitting it offline, courses get really difficult. I hit it pretty well. I was hitting it off the center of the face off the tee too, so I didn’t really see much of the trouble, which made it feel a little
easier, but it’s out there. I hit a couple wayward shots and all of a sudden, you’re staring double in the face.”
At the end of a final round in which four different players held the lead at some point in the day, Menser, of South Lyon, Michigan, walked away with the Hoosier Amateur title by a one-shot margin. Rounds of 68-70-69 left him at 6 under for the week, and a birdie on the 17th hole in the final round was key in moving him to the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Grand Canyon junior Benjamin Keil, who bogeyed the 17th. Silas Haarer, a sophomore at Liberty University, finished third at 3 under.
Key in Menser’s victory also was a lack of bogeys. He only made three all week. Menser correctly realized that the Pfau would not give up many birdies – he had nine of those in 54 holes – so steadiness would be key. Menser is typically not a player who pours in a ton of birdies anyway, he acknowledged.
“It’s just not really my style,” he said. “I knew if I would stay steady, don’t miss it short side, just make a bunch of pars, I’d probably end up in good shape.”
In the final round, Menser checked the leaderboard a few holes into the back nine and saw that he, Keil and Haarer had separated themselves at the top. Keil made eagle at No. 13 , then poured in a birdie at No. 14.
After that, Menser sprayed a drive at No. 16 but scrambled to save par from nearly 20 feet. At the next hole, Menser watched Keil hit a solid approach into the green that took an unfortunate bounce and landed on the back edge of the green to set up bogey. A few minutes later, Menser made a key 15-footer for birdie at No. 17, then followed it with a par on the closing hole.
“Obviously 18 is probably one of the hardest holes out here so I literally just got up there and hit my tee ball quick because I knew if I sat there and thought about it I’d probably miss the fairway,” he said, “so I just got up there and just ripped it and hit it right down the center. I had a full wedge from the fairway, kind of made it simple. I had like 30 feet and two-putted it.”
The Hoosier Amateur marks Menser’s first victory of the summer, even though he felt like he had been playing well. To start July, he made it to the second round of match play in the Michigan Amateur, a tournament eventually won by his Michigan State teammate McCoy Biagioli.
Menser also won Golfweek’s Put Me In Coach Invitational in October. Six out of seven years the Hoosier Amateur has been played, the winner has come from a Big Ten school. As Menser noted, the victory was especially satisfying for him because he was competing against players he will see all season long once college golf starts back up this fall.“Most of these guys are really good players . . . it’s a really strong field,” he said. “It gives me some confidence and more self-belief that I can compete in these big tournaments. I’m not just teeing it up for 20th, I’m teeing it up to win.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Michigan State’s Julian Menser wins Golfweek Hoosier Am with solid play at the Pfau
