Indianapolis, IN - The McKendree University Men's Golf team was back in action this Monday and Tuesday after nearly two weeks off from competition. They were at Broadmoor Country Club in Indianapolis to play in the UIndy Fall Invitational, an event that, in the Fall of 2025, was much less than hospitable when it came to Mother Nature. This year was significantly different, and the scorecards showed it. For one, the Bearcats were in red numbers in each of the three rounds as a team, including a stellar -13 second round on Monday. Further, three McKendree players: Simon Meiby,
Thierry Boucher, and
Tristan Traustason, all finished under par for the event, with Meiby nearly taking medalist honors with an impressive -12/204 to finish runner-up in a field of 92 golfers. It marks the first tournament win for Bearcat Men's Golf since the Dual Gender in the Fall of 2024 and the first win in a non-Bearcat-hosted tournament since the UMSL-hosted Arch Cup in the Fall of 2023.
Simon Meiby dazzled once again at the top of Coach
Mikal Guffey's lineup. His best round came right away at the start, firing seven birdies and just one hole of bogey or worse to break 70 with a -6/66. Even better, Meiby wasn't done yet. That same Monday afternoon, Meiby went for another six birdies for a stupendous 13-birdie day. He would be sitting at -10/134 through two rounds. Saying his score worsened is simply too strong of a word, especially when it was still just a -2/70 and four more birdies for a grand total of 17 birdies. Of the 54 holes golfed, Meiby only bogeyed five (9.3%). By the end of the event, he would be sitting at -12, just one stroke back of medalist honors in a crowded leaderboard that saw just four strokes separate the top seven golfers.
Thierry Boucher was part of a tie for 11th at -5/211. He would bookend a +3/75 second round with a pair of identical -4/68 rounds. Of his eventual 11 birdies, four came on par-five holes, including doing so on the 17th and 18th to finish up his first round on Monday. For the most part, Boucher's birdies were spread out as well, as opposed to having a particular hole down. He was able to improve from bogeys on the par-four sixth twice on Monday to getting a birdie in the Tuesday final round. He did birdie the same hole multiple times in two cases: the par-four 16th and par-five 17th.
Tristan Traustason joined Boucher in that tie for 11th, also at -5/211 for the tournament. He played even golf in the first and third rounds (E/72), but in the middle was an impressive -5/67, where he would birdie six times, including four straight between the 9th-12th holes. He too kept bogeys to a minimum, doing so on just seven of the 54 holes.
Matthew Delanty had birdies littered up and down his scorecard as well, finishing at E/216 and tied for 29th in the event. With 10 birdies in total, his best round came at the end of the day on Monday, where he birdied three of the last four holes to finish -2/70 for the round and -1/143 for the day.
Edison Wu finished at +7/223, tied for 59th. He also had a terrific second round, keeping it in the red at a -2/70, part of a seven-birdie Monday. The back nine was a particular highlight, with Wu going -3/34 in the second round. His other two rounds were a +3/75 and a +6/78.
Aidan O'Keefe was competing as an individual, finishing at +15/231 and tied for 83rd. His Monday started with a +11/83, but made a remarkable jump up to a +1/73 in the second Monday round, a round that featured four back nine birdies. He carried that momentum into Tuesday's final round with a +3/75 and four more birdies.
Other GLVC teams at the event included UIndy, whose A-Team finished 4th at -16, and their B-Team, who finished at 17th with a +40. Drury finished 6th at -13, Maryville finished 7th at -12, and UIS finished 10th at +6.
The Bearcats will now rest for the rest of the week before playing in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Fall Preview, which is taking place September 28th-29th at Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru, Indiana, the home of the GLVC Men's and Women's Golf Championships.
