Trailblazer Golf has three Top-12 finishers at Danville Invitational

DANVILLE, Ill. – The 2023 Vincennes University fall golf season continues to roll on as the Blazers took part in the one-day, 36-hole Danville Invitational at the Danville Country Club Monday.

VU had a very good showing with three Trailblazer golfers placing in the top 12 for the tournament.

Vincennes was led by sophomore Preston Broce (Indianapolis, Ind.) who came out firing in the first round of the day, shooting an even par 71.

Broce would continue this hot start in the second round but had to battle through some tough brakes late in the round before sliding back with a second round 76, placing him seventh overall, his second top-10 finish this season.

Sophomore Aaron Brink (Nashville, Ill.) had a very good tournament, securing his first top-10 finish of the season with back-to-back three-over 74 rounds, Brink would finish in a tie for eighth overall.

Freshman Alex Nealis (Olney, Ill.) rounded out the VU top-15 scorers, shooting a 77 in the first round of the day, before moving up the leaderboard with a second round two-over par 73 to finish 12th overall.

The VU day was rounded out by freshmen Trejan Morrison (Ferdinand, Ind.) and Xavier Brown (Franklin, Ind.).

Morrison shot an 84 and an 87 on the day, placing him in a tie for 51st place overall, while Brown had a first round 89 before coming back and shooting an 84 in the second round to place 55th.

The Trailblazers as a team shot a 306 in the first round and a 307 in the second round, finishing seventh out of nine teams but were only seven shots out of fourth place and 15 shots out of second place on the day.

"We had three players finish in the top 12 and in that field it's really good," VU Hall of Fame Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. "Preston actually led the tournament for a few holes but had some bad breaks finishing the second round. Preston is a good player and I feel confident that he will win a tournament or more before his career is over at VU."

"Aaron has really stepped up his game this season," Chattin added. "He is working hard and it shows. The seventh place finish looks much worse than we played. With it being close with all of the teams but Parkland, we could have literally been second had a few things gone our way. But that's golf. Greens were tough but as they say, we were all playing the same greens."

VU will look to continue to improve as the fall season moves along to the Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) Fall Preview Monday, Oct. 2 hosted at Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington, Ill.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

TEAM RESULTS

Parkland – 293, 287 – 580

Black Hawk – 303, 295 – 598

Rend Lake – 307, 292 – 599

Mineral Area – 302, 304 – 606

Heartland – 303, 306 – 609

Danville Area – 306, 304 – 610

VINCENNES – 306, 307 – 613

Illinois Central – 310, 304 – 614

Lincoln Trail – 316, 323 – 639

VINCENNES RESULTS

Preston Broce (7) – 71, 76 – 147

Aaron Brink (T8) – 74, 74 – 148

Alex Nealis (12) – 77, 73 – 150

Trejan Morrison (T51) – 84, 87 – 171

Xavier Brown (55) – 89, 84 - 173