| Big Ten Match Play Championship | |
| DATES | February 10-11, 2017 |
| LOCATION | Hammock Beach Resort; Palm Coast, Fla. |
| SCORING & INFO | Final Results | Final Bracket |
| FIELD | Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers. |
Feb. 11,2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions secured a program-best second place finish at the Big Ten Match Play Championship defeating Iowa in the semifinals before falling to Northwestern in the championship at the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Florida.
Semifinals
The 5th-seeded Lions squared off against the 8th-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes to begin action on the final day of the Big Ten Match Play Championship.
Sophomore Charles Huntzinger (Duluth, Ga.) won 5&4 and freshman Alec Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) won 3&2 to give Penn State the early 2-0 lead with neither golfer trailing at any point in their matches.
Junior Cole Miller (New Tripoli, Pa.) and senior Christian Elliott (Port Perry, Ontario) dropped their matches 2&1 and 3&2, respectively to even the score at 2-2.
Sophomore JD Hughes (Carlisle, Pa.) who needed to win the final hole in the quarterfinals to push Penn State into the semis fell 2&1 in second match of the weekend.
Sophomore Ryan Dornes (Lancaster, Pa.) after trailing for 11 of the first 14 holes, won both 15 and 16 to take a one-hole lead entering the final two holes of play. After the match was evened up on 17, Dornes won 18 sending Penn State to the finals against Northwestern.
"Every one of our guys stayed in their match," said head coach Greg Nye. "No quit. That made the difference in the tie-breaker. Ryan Dornes came up big with a great two putt from 80 feet in the back left corner of the green to win his match in crunch time to send us to the finals."
This secured Penn State's best finish in their Big Ten Match Play history and first appearance in the championship.
Finals
The Blue and White met the No. 3 seed in the championship, Northwestern, to close out the Big Ten Match Play Championship, ultimately falling 3.5-2.5 to claim second.
Elliott and Huntzinger both dropped their final matches 5&4 and 7&5, respectively before Dornes put Penn State on the board with a 4&2 win making the score 2-1.
Hughes halved his match after coming from a two-hole deficit with four holes remaining. The last two matches came down to the final hole, Miller with a one-hole lead and Bard tied. Bard dropped the final hole giving Northwestern the 3.5-2.5 victory after Miller won his match 2UP.
The second place finish is the Nittany Lion's first and best finish at the Big Ten Match Play Championship.
"We got beat by an excellent team today," said coach Nye. "They had us down in five matches midway, but not out. We had four guys step up over the last six holes and we nearly won it all at the last hole. The 30-plus foot steep downhill putt at the last made by Everton Hawkins was tough to watch after the comeback we made. That's sports. Proud of our team."
The Lions return to action Feb. 25 for the Challenge at Champions against Michigan State in Houston, Texas.
| Match Result (Semifinals) | Score (PSU - IOWA) |
| Charles Huntzinger (PSU) DEFEATS Alex Moorman (IOWA) 5&4 | 1-0 |
| Alex Schaake DEFEATS Cole Miller (PSU) 2&1 | 1-1 |
| Alec Bard (PSU) DEFEATS Ryoto Furuya (IOWA) 3&2 | 2-1 |
| Matthew Walker (IOWA) DEFEATS JD Hughes (PSU) 2&1 | 2-2 |
| Ryan Dornes (PSU) DEFEATS Carson Schaake (IOWA) 1UP | 3-2 |
| Raymond Knoll (IOWA) DEFEATS Christian Elliott (PSU) 3&2 | 3-3 |
| Match Result (Finals) | Score (PSU - NU) |
| Conor Richardson (NU) DEFEATS Christian Elliott (PSU) 5&4 | 0-1 |
| Andrew Whalen (NU) HALVES JD Hughes (PSU) A/S | 0.5-1.5 |
| Everton Hawkins (NU) DEFEATS Alec Bard (PSU) 1UP | 0.5-2.5 |
| Ryan Dornes (PSU) DEFEATS Sam Triplett (NU) 4&2 | 1.5-2.5 |
| Cole Miller (PSU) DEFEATS Ryan Lumsden (NU) 2UP | 2.5-2.5 |
| Dylan Wu (NU) DEFEATS Charles Huntzinger (PSU) 7&5 | 2.5-3.5 |