Rutgers Men’s Golf Secures Best-Ever Finish at the Big Ten Championships

NORTH PLAINS, OREGON - MAY 1: Lucas Politano of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (L) and Assistant Coach Patrick Spraggs (R) talk over a shot at the 18th hole during the first day of the Big Ten Golf Championships at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on May 1, 2026 in North Plains, Oregon. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Big Ten/University Images via Getty Images)

Rutgers men’s golf closed out the Big Ten championships last Sunday with its best-ever finish, largely thanks to a strong late-round performance, which saw the Scarlet Knights finish fourth overall at 10-over par. The two under-par team scores the Knights secured in the second round helped propel them past their previous best finish of sixth overall, which they got during the 2019-2020 season.

All five of Rutgers’ golfers competed in all three rounds, making them the only team in the conference to do so. All five of them finished within the top 40 golfers in the conference.

Sophomore Bennett Espenshade led the late push with a 4-under par 66, which was Rutgers’ low round of the day. His performance in the later rounds propelled him into the top 10 individually and provided a key boost in the team’s final push.

Senior Luke Koenig and sophomore Argyle Downes each contributed rounds of 1-over par 71, while Freshman Lucas Politano added an even-par 70 and graduate student Jeffrey Zatorski posted a 4-over par 74. Politano and Koenig both finished at +4, which tied for 23rd place, while Downes and Zatorski both finished at +7, which tied for 40th place.

UCLA would ultimately claim the team title after holding off Illinois in the final round.

The selection show for the NCAA men’s golf D1 tournament will be on May 6th at 2 pm. Here, Rutgers men’s golf will wait to see if its name is called to be one of the 81 teams in the national tournament.

With Chris Gotterup representing the program on the professional level, a performance like this at the Big Ten Championships, and the fact that a lot of the golfers on the team are on the younger side, good days seem to be ahead for the whole program.