Decatur, Ill. -- Less than 48 hours after concluding its two-day stay at the Forester Spring Invite, the Wheaton men's golf team returned to the links for another two-day competition, traveling to central Illinois for the Butts Classic hosted by Millikin University. The three-round, 14-team event at the Country Club of Decatur served as the final tournament on the Thunder's 2025-26 regular season schedule, and Wheaton finished the competition in tenth place. Junior Baylor Brogan registered the top score of the six Thunder players competing at this week's classic.

CCIW squads made up over half of the competition's field, with eight teams representing six conference schools at the event. The two participating teams from Illinois Wesleyan finished atop the standings, with the Titans' 'B' squad edging out the varsity team by a single stroke of 871 to 872 after the three rounds of play. Carthage College finished third in the classic on a combined team mark of 886.

Wheaton sat in fifth place following Monday's opening two rounds, but a higher score in today's final section saw the Thunder slip down to tenth on a cumulative total of 923. The Orange and Blue entered the clubhouse sandwiched between two other teams from the league, with Millikin's B group placing ninth via a 922 total and Elmhurst University coming in 11th with a final tally of 924. Wheaton's best round at this week's competition came in the second 18-hole stretch on Monday, as the group carded a 291 (+3) to propel themselves into the top five.

Brogan's tournament trajectory followed the same pattern as the Thunder's, with the Michigan native enjoying an impressive first day on the course before enduring a more challenging round on Tuesday. The third-year golfer posted round scores of 75 (+3) and 69 (-3) in Monday's segments to climb all the way up to third place on the 82-man leaderboard. But an 83 in today's final round saw him tie for 27th overall with a combined competition score of 227 (+11). Brogan's 69 (-3) score in Monday's second round set a new team-best mark for the season, surpassing his previous best of 73 (+1) from September and Wyatt Brown, Ryan McLain, and Luke Pringle's joint team-leading scores of 71 (-1) achieved at various different tournaments this year.

Tannen Reed competed on an individual basis this week but carded the second-lowest score among the Thunder players. The senior shot a 76 (+4) in the opening round before logging two 79 (+7) tallies to end the tournament on a combined total of 234 (+18) that saw him tie for 45th place. Micah Chiong was right behind him in the final standings, carding round marks of 79, 74, and 82 to register a combined 235, ending the event a single shot behind Reed.

Brown and Pringle tied for 58th on the leaderboard with final marks of 237. Pringle's week was highlighted by an even-par 72 in Monday's second round, while he began the day with an 84 and ended with an 81 this afternoon. Brown started with a 74 (+2) yesterday before carding totals of 76 and 87 from the following 36 holes. Freddie Chan opened the competition with a 75 round score before tallying marks of 86 and 83 to conclude his participation with a combined 244 count.

With its regular season slate now in the books, Wheaton will turn its focus to the upcoming conference tournament. The Thunder will head to Rockford in one week's time for the 2026 CCIW Championship, which is set to be held at the Aldeen Golf Club between Wednesday, April 29 and Friday, May 1. Millikin is the designated host school for this year's championship.