May 4, 2003
Final Team Results
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Tom Johnson (Sacramento, Calif./Del Campo) made a bid to become the eighth player in Northwestern history to claim Big Ten Championships medalist honors, but despite a late charge, he came up a stroke short and finished second at this year's event, held at the Indiana University Golf Course.
Johnson's outstanding Sunday play helped the Wildcats move from sixth to fourth place. As a team, Northwestern finished 22-over (286-296-288-288=1,158), 36 strokes behind Minnesota, which overtook Illinois on the final day for its second straight conference championship. Illinois was second at 8-under and Ohio State was third at 17-over.
Johnson's final round included five birdies, two bogeys and 11 pars. He finished with a 3-under 68 and a 7-under 277 for the 72 holes. Johnson shared runner-up honors with Illinois' James Lepp and Minnesota's Simon Nash.
Junior Casey Strunk (Phoenix, Ariz./Thunderbird) turned in a 2-under 69, his best round of the tournament, and placed 18th at 8-over (74-76-73-69=292). Junior T.C. Ford (Covington, La./Mandeville) finished 28th at 11-over (73-75-72-75=295).
Northwestern's second- and third-best players, seniors Bjorn Widerstedt (Vasteras, Sweden/Carlforsska Gymnasiet) and Scott Harrington (Portland, Ore./Jesuit) placed 35th and 40th, respectively. Widerstedt and Harrington had respective rounds of 77 and 76 on Sunday.
The Big Ten also announced its 2003 All-Big Ten team. In addition to his All-Big Ten Championship honor for placing in the top five at the weekend's tournament, Johnson was named a first-team All-Big Ten honoree. Widerstedt earned second-team All-Big Ten kudos.
Northwestern now waits for a call from the NCAA Men's Golf Championships Committee on Monday. The Wildcats are seeking their ninth straight NCAA regional berth.