Men's golf joins women's, qualifies for nationals

For the first time in seven years, Purdue men's golf will compete for a national title.

The Boilermakers finished second in the NCAA Regional held at Purdue's Kampen-Cosler Course, tallying a 54-hole total of 11-under par to finish 13 shots behind No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt.

It marks Purdue's fourth National Championships appearance under head coach Rob Bradley (2014, 2016, 2017, 2024) and 30th in school history. Purdue will be joined by Big Ten teams Illinois and Ohio State in Carlsbad, California. A 30-team field will be whittled down over the course of six days to determine a national champion.

Additionally, Purdue is one of four schools nationally (Auburn, Clemson, Texas, Purdue) to finish either champion or runner-up in both men's and women's NCAA Regionals. The women's team finished second last week in Las Vegas.

"I have felt all year long that we've had a really solid team with a few older guys that have played really good golf this year. It was great to see them play well on our home course and put us in a position to win Regionals," Bradley said in a news release. "It would have been nice to play better today and give us a chance late, but all-in-all, the job is to get to Nationals and we were able to accomplish that."

The Boilermakers started the day one shot behind Vanderbilt, but fell off the pace of the Commodores late in the front nine. Purdue trailed by just five shots at the turn but couldn't keep pace with Vanderbilt and settled into second place.

Purdue's runner-up finish is its best placing at Regionals since winning the 2002 Regional in Little Rock, Arkansas.

School golfing legend Herman Sekne made his sixth top-five finish of the season in just 10 events and his eighth top-20 showing. He now has 19 career top-10 finishes, good for the third most in program history and one shy of Lee Williamson's and Lenny Hartlage's 20.