Golden Eagles Set Sights on BIG EAST Championships

Saturday, May 2

Hardeeville, SC (Riverton Pointe Golf & Country Club)

Marquette University

BIG EAST Championship

Golden Eagles Set Sights on BIG EAST Championships

4/30/2026 2:17:00 PM | Men's Golf

Championship Central Live Scoring Live Video MU Season Stats

MU enters tournament as top-ranked team in the conference.

By: Communications

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men's golf team heads to Hardeeville, South Carolina and the Riverton Pointe Golf and Country Club for the 2026 BIG EAST Men's Golf Championships presented by JEEP on May 2-4.

The three-day event will determine the conference's automatic team and individual berths to the NCAA Regionals.

THE EVENT
The Golden Eagles are back at Riverton Pointe Golf and Country Club for the third time in the last four seasons. In their first trip to the course for the BIG EAST Championships, Marquette claimed the 2023 team title by three strokes over St. John's as Bhoom Sima-Aree captured the individual title with a 3-under 213.

Play is scheduled to begin on Saturday at 7 a.m. CT. Saturday's first-round groups will be determined by team seedings, while Sunday's and Monday's groupings are assembled from the previous day's leaderboard.

For the third straight year, GKLive.TV, will provide online coverage of the Championship. The broadcast is entirely free with users just needing to register to activate an account for the event. The broadcast uses static cameras throughout the course and live commentary from the 18^th green.

THE COURSE
Riverton Pointe Golf and Country Club

The conference has previously held the tournament at the course in Hardeeville, South Carolina in 2023 and 2024.

THE LINEUP
    1. Mason Schmidtke
    2. Mischa Candinas
    3. Johan Widal
    4. Vincent Cervantes
    5. Ryan Banas
        Alternate: Will Hemauer

MARQUETTE AGAINST THE FIELD
The Golden Eagles head into the weekend as the top-ranked team in the BIG EAST at No. 69 in the Scoreboard national rankings. Xavier is 25 spots back at No. 94. Eight of the other nine teams sit between 118^th and 194^th.

Mason Schmidtke is MU's top player this season at No. 281. That puts the junior third in the conference behind Xavier's Cayse Morgan (193) and Creighton's Grant Feldman (274).
Marquette's five-man lineup all rank in the top 600 with Mischa Candinas at No. 363, Johan Widal at No. 415, Vincent Cervantes at No. 461 and Ryan Banas at No. 555. Only one BIG EAST team other than MU has more than one player ranked inside the top 600 (Butler - 2).

GOLDEN EAGLES FLYING INTO CHAMPIONSHIPS
Entering this week's BIG EAST Championships, Marquette is coming off top finishes of the season with a win at the Bell Bank "Pay It Forward" Collegiate (March 24) and a runner-up finish at the Bluegrass Collegiate Invitational (April 14) in its last two tournaments.

The Golden Eagles have won at least one team title every season dating back to 2020-21.
Vincent Cervantes won the second individual medal of his career, tying for first at the Bluegrass Collegiate Invitational with an even par 213. He became the seventh Golden Eagle to win multiple tournaments in their collegiate career.

MU DOMINANCE IN LAST 10
Since 2015, Marquette has laid claim to the top of the BIG EAST. MU has won five of the last 10 team titles and finished and finished runner-up in three others.

MU's five team championships are three more than Seton Hall and Georgetown. MU's eight top two finishes since 2015 is five more than Seton Hall.
Individually, the Golden Eagles have claimed five medals since 2015 with three of those coming during team championships (2015, 2017, 2023). Marquette has seen its top finisher place in the top five during nine of the 10 tournaments.

MU INDIVIDUALS AT THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Five MU golfers have won six BIG EAST individual titles, most recently Bhoom Sima-Aree at Riverton Pointe in 2023 with a 3-under 213. MU's best 54-hole mark at the event is a 7-under 209 carded by former PING All-American Hunter Eichhorn at Streamsong Resort's Blue Course in Bowling Green, Florida in 2021.

BAILEY BUILT
Head Coach Steve Bailey has built Marquette into the top men's golf program in the BIG EAST during his 16 years. In Year 5 of his tenure, Bailey earned his first team title in 2015 and his teams haven't slowed since. From 2015-2025, his teams claimed half of the conference's team titles.

Bailey's five BIG EAST team titles are second only to former St. John's coach Jack Gimmler who won nine from 1979-89.
During the last 11 championships, Bailey's teams have finished either first or second nine times. The last time a program had a similar run in the BIG EAST was Notre Dame which finished in the top two at the championships 10 times from 1995-2007 which included six team titles during the 12 seasons.

PREVIOUS BIG EAST INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Vincent Cervantes
2025: T-13^th (fourth on MU); +1 (74-71-72—217)

Mason Schmidtke
2024: 38^th (fourth on MU); +14 (79-76-75—230)
2025: T-13^th (fourth on MU); +1 (67-76-74—217)

Johan Widal
2025: T-4^th (first on MU); -3 (71-68-73—213)

*BIG EAST Championship 18-hole record

PREVIOUS BIG EAST TEAM FINISHES
*Riverton Pointe Golf & Country Club
2025: 1^st (285-280-282—847)
2024: 4^th (+17, 291-302-288—881)
2023: 1^st (+9, 293-279-301—873)*
2022: 2^nd (-12, 281-289-282—852)*
2021: 2^nd (+11, 286-293-296—875)
2020: No Event
2019: 1^st (+8, 303-288-271—872)
2018: 2^nd (+25, 290-306-291—884)
2017: 1^st (+35, 204-209-286—899)
2016: 4^th (+34, 299-293-306—898)
2015: 1^st (+33, 304-297-296—897)
2014: 2^nd (+28, 295-300-297—892)
2013: 7^th (+27, 292-305-294—891)
2012: 8^th (+34, 299-301-298—898)
2011: T-7^th (+52, 304-303-297—904)
2010: T-9^th (+43, 306-288-301—895)
2009: 2^nd (-12, 292-287-273—852)
2008: 1^st (+10, 291-288-295—874)
2007: 4^th (+8, 290-294-288—872)
2006: 3^rd (-18, 285-278-283—846)

BIG EAST MEDALISTS—MARQUETTE
2023: Bhoom Sima-Aree (-3, 73-68-72—213)*
2021: Hunter Eichhorn (-7, 68-71-70—209)
2018: Hunter Eichhorn (-2, 69-73-72—214)
2017: Matthew Bachmann (E, 73-71-72—216)
2015: Patrick Sanchez (-1, 73-73-69—215)
2008: Ted Gray (-5, 68-68-75—211)