Mid-Season Update: MSU Men
By Michael Carey
Michigan State’s men’s golf team opened the 2026 spring season on Jan. 31, playing in the Third Annual Gantner Cup at Mountain Lake Country Club in Lake Wales, Fla.
Michigan State is coming off of a fall campaign that included one top-five finish and an appearance in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate.
The Spartans had their best performance of the fall in the season-opening Island Resort Intercollegiate near Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula, firing a 32-under par 273 (282-277-273) to finish in fourth place, with junior transfer McCoy Biagioli leading the team with a third-place finish at 15-under par 201.
MSU followed up with a seventh-place finish at the Folds of Honor Collegiate at American Dunes, shooting a 17-over par 869 and then finished in 6th place at the Golf Canada Collegiate at even-par 864 (287-287-290) and a tie for 6th at the Windon Memorial Classic with the second-best score of the season at 16-under par 848 (289-278-281). The team concluded the fall season at the St. Andrews Links Collegiate, finishing in third-place in the stroke play portion before closing the event with a match play victory over the University of St Andrews.
Senior Caleb Bond, the reigning Michigan Amateur champion, was the MSU team’s top finisher in three events, leads the team in scoring average at 70.17 and posted three top-20 finishes, including a sixth-place finish at the Folds of Honor (even-par 213). Junior Lorenzo Pinili, who was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week after his performance at the St. Andrews Links Collegiate, is second on the team with a 71.58 scoring average. Senior Ashton McCulloch carried a 71.67 scoring average and Biagioli is fourth on the team with a 71.78 scoring average.
Mid-Season Status: MSU Women
Michigan State opens the spring season aiming for its 10th-straight appearance in the NCAA Regionals and the 26th in the last 27 years under head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll.
The Spartans, ranked No. 55 in the NCAA Rankings, are coming off a fall season that closed with a top-five finish in the Windy City Classic and an appearance in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland, where MSU finished 3rd in the stroke play portion of the event and posted a 4-2 win over the University of St. Andrews in match play.
MSU opened the season with a fifth-place finish at the Folds of Honor Collegiate, shooting a 29-over par 893 (303-291-299) before carding a 29-over par 605 (302-303) in the rain-shortened Canadian Collegiate Invitational. The team’s best tournament of the fall was a tied for 4th at the Windy City Classic, as junior Ana Sofia Murcia fired a 6-under par 210 (68-71-71) to place third.
Murcia, who had one top-five and two top-10 finishes, leads the team with a 73.00 scoring average over eight rounds. Senior Taylor Kehoe is second on the team with a 74.00 scoring average. She earned her first Big Ten Golfer of the Week nod after a strong showing while in Scotland. Kehoe tied for sixth place at 1-under par 143 (71-72) and followed that up with a 3-under par 69 and a 5-up win in match play in the final round.
Classmate Paula Balanzategui carries a 74.25 scoring average. Sophomore Grace Vetter, a transfer from Queens University in North Carolina and earned Second Team All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors, debuted for MSU at the Windy City Classic, tying for 22nd place with a 1-over par 217 (76-69-72). Senior Shannon Kennedy, the 2024 Michigan Amateur champion, made one appearance during the fall and rounds out the scoring lineup for the Spartans. Freshman Memee Pojanalai opens the season playing as an individual.
