Julian Menser, who had never seen the Pfau Course at Indiana University before this week, can certainly see where the teeth of the notoriously difficult layout would come out. It’s just that, playing in Golfweek’s Hoosier Amateur on July 28-30, he didn’t experience it that way – and that made all the difference.
“I knew it was hard, everyone said it was hard, but when you’re playing good, even hard golf courses sometimes don’t feel that difficult,” said Menser, who is about to enter his junior year at Michigan State. “But the second you start hitting it offline, courses get really difficult. I hit it pretty well. I was hitting it off the center of the face off the tee too, so I didn’t really see much of the trouble, which made it feel a little easier, but it’s out there. I hit a couple wayward shots and all of a sudden, you’re staring double in the face.”
At the end of a final round in which four different players held the lead at some point in the day, Menser, of South Lyon, Michigan, walked away with the Hoosier Amateur title by a one-shot margin. Rounds of 68-70-69 left him at 6 under for the week, and a birdie on the 17th hole in the final round was key in moving him to the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Grand Canyon junior Benjamin Keil, who bogeyed the 17th. Silas Haarer, a sophomore at Liberty University, finished third at 3 under…