Men's Golf Opens '24-'25 Sunday at Gopher Invitational

[knightfan7]

Once again RU opens their season at Minnesota. The field will have a strong B1G/B12 feel with 7 of 15 teams representing the conferences. Along with RU and Minny, Iowa and Nebraska are entered. WVU, Baylor, and Iowa State represent the B12.

This year's team will be a mix of the old and new. 4 players, who combined for around 150 starts at RU, have finished their careers. In their place will be 1 Grad, 1 Senior, 2 Sophmores, and 5 Freshmen.

Starters have not been announced but I imagine 3 year starter, Senior Weston Jones (Mass), will be there along with Grad Noah Kumar (Fla), who returns after sitting out last season. Kumar had a good '23 Spring season after 2 years at DII Florida Southern where they made the NCAA's his Soph year.

Joining them will be 2024 NJ Open Champ, Soph Derek Gutierrez (Cranford), and Soph Andrew Reyes (Tx).

The Freshman include....

Argyle Downes - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in WV. 2 Time WVGA Boys Player of the Year
Bennett Espenshade - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in MD. Also highest ranked recruit at #39 by 1 service.
Ryder Hodgson - (Montclair and Bergen Cath) 2023 NJ PGA Jr Champion. Played Lacrosse before deciding to concentrate on golf.
Max Jackson - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in RI. 2 Time state HS champ and 3 time state Jr Am Champ.
Tommy Murdough - Mass All State and 2022 US Challenge Cup Champ.

Last season after being ranked as high as #72 RU finished ranked #91 out of 306 D1 Teams and 8th in the B1G. If you add the 4 new members, RU would have been ranked 11th out of 18.

Rutgers has been ranked #1 in the Northeast 3 of the last 4 years but will be pushed by Princeton who had the #15 recruiting class by 1 service.

 

[richthedentist]

Once again RU opens their season at Minnesota. The field will have a strong B1G/B12 feel with 7 of 15 teams representing the conferences. Along with RU and Minny, Iowa and Nebraska are entered. WVU, Baylor, and Iowa State represent the B12.

This year's team will be a mix of the old and new. 4 players, who combined for around 150 starts at RU, have finished their careers. In their place will be 1 Grad, 1 Senior, 2 Sophmores, and 5 Freshmen.

Starters have not been announced but I imagine 3 year starter, Senior Weston Jones (Mass), will be there along with Grad Noah Kumar (Fla), who returns after sitting out last season. Kumar had a good '23 Spring season after 2 years at DII Florida Southern where they made the NCAA's his Soph year.

Joining them will be 2024 NJ Open Champ, Soph Derek Gutierrez (Cranford), and Soph Andrew Reyes (Tx).

The Freshman include....

Argyle Downes - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in WV. 2 Time WVGA Boys Player of the Year
Bennett Espenshade - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in MD. Also highest ranked recruit at #39 by 1 service.
Ryder Hodgson - (Montclair and Bergen Cath) 2023 NJ PGA Jr Champion. Played Lacrosse before deciding to concentrate on golf.
Max Jackson - Ranked #1 HS Golfer in RI. 2 Time state HS champ and 3 time state Jr Am Champ.
Tommy Murdough - Mass All State and 2022 US Challenge Cup Champ.

Last season after being ranked as high as #72 RU finished ranked #91 out of 306 D1 Teams and 8th in the B1G. If you add the 4 new members, RU would have been ranked 11th out of 18.

Rutgers has been ranked #1 in the Northeast 3 of the last 4 years but will be pushed by Princeton who had the #15 recruiting class by 1 service.

What was out recruiting class ranked?

 

[knightfan7]

What was out recruiting class ranked?

The 2 rankings I found Rich only went to #25. Info I was able to find were mostly from SK.com, with some from local newspapers, and sites like AJGA and Junior Golf Scorecard.

I just figured I'd just put the hilites all in one post rather than post sites.

I'll add that the new 4 make the B1G Men stronger but make the Women perhaps the best conference in the country. 3 of the '24 Final 4 along with Northwestern. Wow.

 

[richthedentist]

The 2 rankings I found Rich only went to #25. Info I was able to find were mostly from SK.com, with some from local newspapers, and sites like AJGA and Junior Golf Scorecard.

I just figured I'd just put the hilites all in one post rather than post sites.

I'll add that the new 4 make the B1G Men stronger but make the Women perhaps the best conference in the country. 3 of the '24 Final 4 along with Northwestern. Wow.

I know the coach at Bergen so I know about Ryder; the other kids all ranked #1 in their respective states so lets hope; its such a difference in quality of golf from my day at Rutgers to now, we had a coach but he wasn't a golf coach was one of Grunninger's crony hires!!

 

[knightfan7]

The last RU golfer I know of who gave up Lacrosse in HS to concentrate on golf was Chris Gotterup.

Hmmmmmmmm😄

 

[knightfan7]

Rutgers Lineup

1. Noah Kumar leads off at the #1 slot
2. Weston Jones
3. Derek Gutierrez
and 2 Frosh
4. Argyle Downes
5. Bennett Espenshade

Don't know if there'll be anyone playing as an individual