MADISON, Wis. – Senior Bence Kotel led the Toledo men's golf team to a fourth-place finish at Wisconsin's Badger Invitational on Tuesday with the best outing of his collegiate career. Kotel tied for third place with a career-low nine-under par 207 that included a pair of career-best five-under 67s in the first and second rounds on the par-72, 7,272-yard TPC Wisconsin course.

"Bence played with a lot of commitment and confidence," Head Coach Jeff Roope said. "He put the work in over the summer and took responsibility for his progress.  His short game was good and his putter was excellent."
  
The Rockets posted a five-under par 859 as a team with junior Mason Deal leading the way in the final round with a one-under par 71.

"The team battled and should be encouraged," Roope said. "TPC Wisconsin was on the opposite end of the spectrum from the first two events we played. We made adjustments and showed maturity."

The remainder of the Rockets' lineup included sophomore Bence Bertenyi (T-24^th/218), senior Mads Jensen (T-29^th/219), junior Solomon Petrie (T-38^th/220), and Deal (T-47^th/222).

Southern Miss captured the team title at 23-under par. Southern Illinois' Anthony De Schutter and Northern Illinois' Craig Long II shared medalist honors at 11-under par after shooting seven-under 65 in the final round.

The Rockets will now take two weeks off before returning to action at Kentucky's Cullan Brown Collegiate on Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 6-7 in Lexington, Ky. 

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Southern Miss 279-278-284=841 (-23); T2. Southern Illinois 284-286-281=851 (-13); T2. Illinois State 284-288-279=851 (-13); 4. TOLEDO 284-285-290=859 (-5); 5. Northern Illinois 286-288-287=861 (-3); 6. VCU 296-285-283=864 (+E); 7. Xavier 288-288-292=868 (E); 8. Texas San Antonio 292-290-289=871 (+3); T9. Oakland 300-279-293=872 (+4); T9. Minnesota 296-290-286=872 (8); 11. Wisconsin 295-290-300=885 (+21); 12. Green Bay 299-292-303=894 (+30); 13. DePaul 298-291-307=896 (+32); 14. Valparaiso 304-294-306=904 (+40)

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
T1. Anthony De Schutter (SIU) 68-72-65=205 (-11); T1. Craig Long II (NIU) 71-69-65=205 (-11); T3. Bence Kotel (Toledo) 67-67-73=207 (-9); T3. Benjamin Fernandez (USM) 69-70-68=207 (-9); T5. Jake Moffitt (USM) 71-66-71=208 (-8); T5. TJ Barger (ISU) 69-70-69=208 (-8)

TOLEDO INDIVIDUALS
T3. Bence Kotel 67-67-73=207 (-9); T24. Bence Bertenyi 70-72-76=218 (+2); T29. Mads Jensen 73-72-74=219 (+3); T38. Solomon Petrie 74-74-72=220 (+4); Ind.-T40. Rasmus Gross 74-74-73=221 (+5); T47. Mason Deal 74-77-71=222 (+6)