Men's Golf Heads to Windy City for Highlands Invite

2026 HIGHLANDS INVITATIONAL presented by Turtleson
Date	Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 21-22, 2026
Info Hub	EMU Notes (pdf)
Venue	Chicago Highlands Club \| Westchester, Ill. \| Par: 72 \| Yards: 7,490
Live	Live Scoring (Scoreboard)
Social Media	EMU_Golf (X) \| Ea sternMichiganMensGolf (Instagram)

WESTCHESTER, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University men's golf team returns to the course this week as the Eagles are set to compete in the Highlands Invitational presented by Turtleson, Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 21-22, at Chicago Highlands in Westchester, Ill. The two-day, 54-hole event will feature 12 teams with action starting each day off split tees starting at 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET).

THIS WEEK'S LINE UP
Here are the Eagles that will compete at the 2026 Highlands Invitational (Sept. 21-22):
Joshua Hess (Y2) • 68.7 • T-17th at Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate (10-under 206); Shot final round 64
Parin Sarasmut (Y1) • 66.7 • Runner-up in Arizona in debut event; MAC Golfer of the Week (Sept. 11)
Robby Turnbull (Y2) • 69.0 • T-23rd at Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate to open the season
Charlie Box (Y4) • 70.3 • T-39th at season-opening Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate (5-under 211)
Arsit Areephun (Y5) • Making his debut with EMU; 3-year member of the Delaware program (71.2 in 2025-26)
Vicente Quiroga (Y1) • 70.0 • T-34th in collegiate debut at 6-under 210

CHIP INS
» Parin Sarasmut was named the MAC Golfer of the Week following his debut tournament that saw him tie the program's 54-hole record after shooting 16-under 200 to take second at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate (Sept. 7-8). Sarasmut shot rounds of 66, 68, and 66 to tie Tyler Lewis' mark from 2018.
» Four players made their Eastern Michigan debuts at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate. The group included three players making their collegiate debuts in Parin Sarasmut, Vicente Quiroga, and Ben Sessions, while Felipe Suarez, a transfer from Missouri Valley College, played his first event at the NCAA Division I level after playing last year in the NAIA.
» As a team, the Eagles shattered several records at the Bombs Darts Bird Collegiate (Sept. 7-8), including the 54-hole total score, 54-hole score to par, and the top two spots on the score to par list for individual rounds. Overall, the 830 strokes broke the previous record by two while the 34-under score blasted the previous best of 28-under by six strokes. EMU shot 272 in the third round and 273 in the first to post the second and fifth-best rounds, respectively, overall while taking the top two spots in score to par.
» The roster also features five newcomers, including three first-year collegiate players and two transfers. The first-year players include Vicente Quiroga (Bolivia), Parin Sarasmut (Thailand), and Ben Sessions (UK) while the transfers include Arsit Areephun (Thailand) from Delaware and Felipe Suarez (Argentina) from Missouri Valley College.
» Over the summer, the NCAA announced its new age-based eligibility model, which also is unofficially known as the five-in-five model. The new model gives student-athletes five years to compete for five seasons with no redshirting and other waivers being utilized moving forward.
» Andy Walker is back for his third year as the Eagles' head coach and brings a championship of his own from summer play after capturing medalist honors at the Yamaha Golf Cars Plus Michigan Senior Open, July 14-15, at Bedford Valley CC. Walker shot 6-under 138, including a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to force a playoff, where he won the title on the second hole.
» Former Eagle Stuart Grehan (2017-18) won The Amateur Championship that was played June 15-20 at Royal Liverpool in England. The Irishman captured the title at the 131st playing the event after finishing tied for 14th in stroke play (5-under 139) before winning six matches, including 1-up in the 36-hole final against American Matt Moloney.

FEELING HONORED
The MAC announced its weekly men's golf award, Sept. 11, with Parin Sarasmut being named the MAC Golfer of the Week following an impressive finish in his first collegiate tournament earlier in the week for the Eagles. Playing as an individual, Sarasmut finished as the individual runner-up in the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate, which was played at Whirlwind Golf Club at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Ariz., Sept. 7-8. He caught fire early as he finished second in the individual standings at 16-under 200 (66-68-66), just one stroke off the individual title won by Jake Lile (Arkansas State). Sarasmut tied Tyler Lewis for a pair of Eastern records as his 200 strokes tied Lewis' mark set in 2018 at the Loyola Intercollegiate while he also tied for the to-par record of 16-under that Lewis recorded at the same event. Additionally, Sarasmut's first and third-round scores of 66 tied for the 18th-lowest rounds in program history. Lastly, his 16-under score ranked third in the two-year history of the event in Arizona with the medalist each year shooting 17-under.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE FACTS
The Highland Invitational will be played on the par-72, 7,490-yard Chicago Highlands course in Westchester, Ill. The teams will compete over 54 holes (three rounds) with two played Monday, Sept. 21, and one Tuesday, Sept. 22. The first tee time is slated for 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET) both days with split tees being used. Eastern Michigan is slated to tee off at 7:20 a.m. CT (8:20 a.m. ET) off the No. 10 tee for the first two rounds.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE FIELD
The Highland Invitational field will feature 12 teams, including: Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, North Alabama, Southern Illinois, Toledo, Wake Forest, and Western Carolina.

IN THE RANKINGS • TEAMS
Only one team was named to the Golf Channel Preseason Top 30 this year with Wake Forest selected No. 29. Looking back at last year's final Scoreboard/Clippd rankings (June 8), the field at the Highland Invitational will feature two teams in the top 50, including No. 33 Wake Forest and No. 47 College of Charleston. Additionally, five other teams featured in the top 100, including No. 70 Coastal Carolina, No. 86 East Tennessee State, No. 98 Eastern Michigan, No. 99 Maryland, and No. 100 Indiana.

EAGLE RANKINGS
Five members of the Eastern roster appeared in the final 2026 Scoreboard/Clippd rankings (June 8) with Charlie Box leading the returning NCAA Division I players on the team at No. 314. He is joined by Arsit Areephun, who was No. 347 with Delaware, and returning Eagles Robby Turnbull at No. 426 and Joshua Hess at No. 618. Also, Felipe Suarez, who played at Missouri Valley College, ended his first collegiate season ranked No. 3 on the NAIA ledger.

REVIEW: 2025 HIGHLANDS INVITATIONAL
Eastern Michigan competed in the 2025 edition of the Highlands Invitational and finished fifth in the 13-team field after shooting 9-over 873. Wake Forest won the title at 24-under 840 while East Tennessee State took second at 16-under 848. Individually, two Eagles are back in the lineup for the 2026 event including Charlie Box and Joshua Hess, who finished tied for ninth at 4-under 212 and tied for 19th at 2-over 218, respectively.

REVIEW: 2026 SEASON OPENER
Notes to recap the 2026 Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate, which was played Sept. 7-8, at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz., are below:
» Parin Sarasmut made the most of his collegiate debut as the first-year player shot 16-under 200 (66-68-66) to tie the program records for lowest 54-hole total and lowest 54-hole to-par score that Tyler Lewis recorded with a matching 16-under 200 at the Loyola Intercollegiate, Feb. 24-26, 2018. Sarasmut's score, which featured a pair of rounds of 66 to tie for the 18th-lowest single-rounds in program history, tied for the third-lowest score in the two-year history of the event (played as the Whirlwind Collegiate last year) with both winners shooting 17-under 199.
» Joshua Hess went off in the final round as he shot a career-best 8-under 64 to jump 34 places in the standings and tied for 17th overall at 10-under 206 (69-73-64). His third-round 64 was tied for the third-lowest in program history behind Charlie Box (2025-26) and Tim Chan (2024-25), who both shot 63. Hess' 206 tied for the eighth-lowest score in program history while his 10-under mark tied for the sixth-lowest to-par score at EMU. Hess, who has recorded seven career tournament finishes under par, tied his lowest tournament total (206) while smashing his best to-par score (4-under) that was set last year at the Hal Williams Collegiate (Feb. 16-17, 2026).
» Robby Turnbull shot 9-under 207 to tie for 14th on the program's 54-hole score ledger while his to-par score tied for ninth. Overall, his 9-under to-par score broke his previous best of 7-under while his 207 ranked second after he shot 7-under 203 at the Hal Williams Collegiate last year.
» Felipe Suarez, playing his first tournament as a member of an NCAA Division I program after playing for NAIA Missouri Valley College last year, lowered his score in each round to finish at 7-under 209. Suarez, who shot 66 in the final round to tie for 10th-lowest single round in program history, posted the 25th-lowest 54-hole score in program history while he tied for 16th with his to-par score.
» All seven Eagles in the tournament finished under par.

TEAM RECORD BOOK REWRITES
The Eagles took a red pen to the record book as their first and third-round scores at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate (Sept. 7-8) ranked among the best in program history. In overall scoring, the 273 shot in the first round ranked tied for fifth overall while the 272 posted in the final round tied for second, just one off the 271 shot last year at the Hal Williams Collegiate (Feb. 16, 2026). Additionally, the 16-under score recorded in the third round is the record for all single-round scoring after bettering the 15-under recorded in the first round. The previous best was 14-under (274) recorded in the third round of the 2007 MAC Championships. Overall, the 830 strokes recorded are the lowest 54-hole total in program history, surpassing the 832 strokes tallied at the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational, Sept. 9-10, 2019. Additionally, the 34-under score broke the mark by six after the Eagles shot 28-under 836 at the 2018 Loyola Intercollegiate (Feb. 25-26).

NEW ELIGIBILITY MODEL
The 2026-27 academic year will feature the first seasons under the NCAA's new age-based eligibility model, which has been commonly referred to as the 'five-in-five' model. Under the new legislation, student-athletes will have five years to play five seasons with redshirts, medical hardships, and other waivers seeking additional years of competition being eliminated. Eastern Michigan student-athletes across all sports will be listed with a 'Y' number to indicate the year of eligibility they are currently competing. For example, Charlie Box is listed as a Y-4, meaning he is in his fourth year and has two seasons (2026-27 and 2027-28) to compete while rookie Vicente Quiroga is a Y-1, meaning he is in his first year and has five seasons to compete (2026-27, 2027-28, 2028-29, 2029-30, and 2030-31).

BACK FOR MORE
EMU's roster features eight players with three back this year after joining the program ahead of the 2025-26 season. Those three players include Charlie Box, Joshua Hess, and Robby Turnbull, all of whom earned All-Mid-American Conference honors last year.
» Box was a two-time medalist in his first year with the program and his third collegiate season as he won the West Bay Collegiate Invitational (Oct. 6-7) in a playoff before sharing honors at the Muirfield Shootout (April 20). Box was named the MAC Golfer of the Year and finished the season with a school-record stroke average of 71.6, surpassing the 71.8 Beau Breault recorded in 2018-19.
» Hess posted a stroke average of 72.9 in his rookie season as the Swiss international played in 13 tournaments with six top-20 finishes. He was named to the All-MAC Second Team.
» Turnbull appeared in 10 tournaments for the Eagles and posted six finishes in the top 20 with two coming in the top 10. He averaged 72.4 strokes per round, which ranked tied for ninth in program history, before earning MAC Freshman of the Year accolades.

WELCOME ABOARD
The 2026-27 roster also welcomed five newcomers, including three first-year collegians and two transfers.
» Arsit Areephun was a three-year member of the Delaware program and won once for the Blue Hens with the title coming last season. A 2025-26 All-Conference USA Second Team selection, Areephun ended the season ranked in the top 350 of the college ranks after averaging 71.1 strokes per round.
» Vicente Quiroga has been ranked among the top 100 in the world and enters the season ranked No. 74 on the WAGR list. A first-year collegiate player from Bolivia, he posted top-10 finishes in 51-of-63 tournaments played from 2023-26 with 18 wins and 17 runner-up showings. He is one of two Quirogas playing in Ypsilanti this year as his sister, Constanza Quiroga, transferred to the women's program over the summer.
» Parin Sarasmut has also been ranked among the top 100 in the world and currently sits at No. 95 following another busy summer that saw him win the Ciputra Golfpreneur Junior World Championship for the second time in his career. He also was a member of the Thai National Team from 2023-25.
» Ben Sessions brings a wealth of experience playing in both stroke and match play competitions for England as he helped his team win several tournaments, most recently defending the crown earned at the Girls and Boys Home Internationals (match play) after winning the Sir Henry Cooper Championship.
» Felipe Suarez came to town after winning six tournaments for Missouri Valley College last year as a first-year player. An NAIA All-American that finished the year ranked No. 3 nationally, Suarez was also named the NAIA Phil Mickelson Outstanding Men's Freshman of the Year, the Heart of America Conference Golfer of the Year, and the HOAC Freshman of the Year after winning the conference's individual title.

WALKER IT OFF
Head Coach Andy Walker won the Yamaha Golf Cars Plus Michigan Senior Open this summer as he used a late run to capture the title at the event played July 14-15 at Bedford Valley Country Club in Battle Creek, Mich. Walker, who finished at 6-under-138, used a run of four consecutive birdies over the final four holes that included sinking a 30-foot putt on No. 18 to force a playoff. In that playoff, Walker made birdie on the second hole to win the title.

WIN OF THE IRISH
Former Eagle Stuart Grehan (2017-18) won The Amateur Championship that was played June 15-20 at Royal Liverpool in England. The Irishman captured the title at the 131st playing the event after finishing tied for 14th in stroke play (5-under 139) before winning six matches, including 1-up in the 36-hole final against American Matt Moloney.

WALKER CUP
The 51st Walker Cup began play Saturday, Sept. 5, with former Eagle Stuart Grehan competing for the Great Britain/Ireland team against the American team in his native Ireland as the two-day event is being held at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch. Grehan played twice on the first day of the amateur event where he halved his morning foursomes match before winning, 1-up, in the afternoon singles session.

ON THE HORIZON
Following one week off, Eastern Michigan will return to action Oct. 5-6, in a pair of events being played at Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Pa. The events, hosted by West Virginia, will see five Eagles play as a team at the Nemacolin Collegiate, which will be played on the Mystic Rock Course, while the remaining three members of the team will compete as individuals in the Nemacolin Individual, which will be played on the Shepard's Rock Course.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arsit Areephun

Charlie Box

Tim Chan

Joshua Hess

Vicente Quiroga

Parin Sarasmut

Ben Sessions

Felipe Suarez

Robby Turnbull

Eastern Michigan Athletics