MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The Illinois Wesleyan men and Carnegie Mellon women entered Tuesday’s final round at the Golfweek Division III Fall Invitational in the lead and never looked back.
Defending national champion Illinois Wesleyan cruised to a nine-shot title at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort’s Raven Course while Carnegie Mellon went wire-to-wire to win by 19 at Baytowne Golf Club.
The Titans shot 6 under as a team to claim their fourth tournament victory of the season and third in a row. The Tartans (+44) won their second tournament in as many weeks after also claiming victory at their Tartan Invitational.
Golfweek Div. III Fall Invitational
Men: Team leaderboard | Individual leaderboard
Women: Team leaderboard | Individual leaderboard
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Both teams also fielded the tournament’s individual medalists. Illinois Wesleyan’s Rob Wuethrich tied the tournament record – and set a school record – with an opening round 64, followed that with a 68 and finished with a 2-under 69 to win at 12 under, three shots clear of Huntingdon College’s Drew Mathers. Andre Chi (Methodist) and Wuethrich’s Titan teammate Skylar LeVine finished T-3 at 8 under. Carnegie Mellon’s Jason Li rounded out the top five at 7 under.
Former Titan Connor O’Neil won the event in 2016 when Wuethrich was a freshman and gave him some advice heading into this week’s event: stay patient.
“For him to win that and be a role model for me, this has been the kind of tournament I really wanted to win for him because he’s done so much for me,” said Wuethrich.
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On the women’s side, Carnegie Mellon freshman Alexis Sudjianto held on for a one-shot victory over Centre College’s Bailey Plourde after consecutive rounds of 1-under 71 to finish 1 over for the tournament. Bree Wilson (Rhodes College) finished third at 9 over, followed by Berry College’s Loren Kim and Carnegie’s Charlotte Simpson, who finished T-4 at 11 over.
“It’s very overwhelming because I just started my freshman season and it’s only my third tournament,” Sudjianto said of her win. “I felt like the last two tournaments I played I didn’t really get to play to my ability. This was the first time I felt like myself again.”
Standing on the 18th tee, Sudjianto didn’t know she was in the lead, two shots clear of Plourde.
“I just wanted to do as well as I could and I had to wait a long time over my putt which didn’t help,” explained Sudjianto, who would three-putt from the fringe for bogey after her par putt lipped out. “The nerves didn’t leave me until after I tapped in, and they probably still haven’t left me yet.”
