RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Marquette University’s Hunter Eichhorn set new MU and event 18-hole records with an 11-under par 61 in Tuesday’s final round at the Puerto Rico Classic at Grand Reserve Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
Eichhorn’s low round broke a 19-year old Marquette record of 63 set by former assistant coach Mike Bielawski in 2003 and All-American Mike Van Sickle in 2008. The mark is also the tournament’s all-time low round, topping Oklahoma’s Patrick Welch, who carded an opening round 10-under 62 on Sunday. Future PGA Tour pros Stewart Cink, Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Justin Leonard and Bubba Watson are all alumni of the event, which began in 1993.
“I liked the course the first day we got here,” Eichhorn said of Grand Reserve. “It set up pretty well for me, I just struggled off the tee the first couple rounds and made it tough to shoot a low score. Today I drove it much better and got the putter rolling. I felt good out there, I got off to a solid start and was able to keep it going throughout the day. (Assistant coach) Jace (Long) was with me and we were on the same page all day as far as reads and club selection. It was a lot of fun.”
Eichhorn began his day with back-to-back pars on holes 12-13 before reeling off six birdies on the next seven holes and a total of 11 over the final 16. His ended his round with consecutive birdies on Nos. 10-11. For the tournament, the Carney, Michigan native tied for ninth (203 strokes) after turning in rounds of 68 on Sunday and 74 on Monday.
It is the 14th top-10 finish of the PING All-American’s Marquette career, 15th including his top-three finish at The Patriot All-America Invitational in December. Counting that event, Eichhorn has earned three top-five and four top-10 finishes in his last five events.
Freshman Max Lyons continued his solid play this week with a final-round 4-under 68 and tied for 16th with an 11-under 205. He shot at least 2-under-par in each round, with a best mark of a 5-under 67 on Monday.
Nicolás Evangelio was the third MU player to finish his week at par-or-better, with a 2-under 72 on Tuesday. He shot an even-par 216 for the tournament and turned in first and third rounds under par.
Eichhorn owned a previous best finish of 17th in Puerto Rico (+3, 216) in 2018 with a 54-hole low score in 2019 of a 1-under 215 (T21).
The par-72 course played at 7,506 yards and the individual medalist of the event, Oklahoma’s Chris Gotterup, receives an invitation to the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open from March 3-6. The Golden Eagles placed 12th as a team (-24, 277-287-276–840), while Oklahoma won the event at 59-under par (805).
Marquette tied with Iowa for 10th place at 2-over par in its last appearance in the Puerto Rico Classic in 2020, the last event the Golden Eagles competed in before COVID shut down the rest of the season. Last year’s event was canceled due to the on-going pandemic.
UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles have a month away from competition before resuming the spring season on March 14-15 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at Bash at the Beach.
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