April 8, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Following a short hiatus, Northwestern's men's golf team begins its stretch run for the spring when it travels to West Lafayette, Ind. this weekend for the Boilermaker Invitational. The tournament is a two-day affair (Saturday and Sunday, April 10-11) with 36 holes played on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. Play gets underway at 8 a.m. both days (shotgun start on Saturday).
"This is an important event for us in regards to securing an NCAA tournament bid, but it is also of more importance because of the quality of the field and the playing of NCAA Regionals there in May," says NU coach Pat Goss. "It is a course we have had success on and know how to play."
Northwestern won the 2000 Big Ten Championship on this course.
Nine of the 18 teams entered in this year's Boilermaker Invitational are presently ranked in the top 50 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index. Oklahoma State and TCU are the top two ranked teams in the field at fifth and ninth, respectively. The Wildcats are sitting 41st presently in the national ranking.
Besides the 'Cats and the host school, Purdue (ranked 61st), six other Big Ten schools are entered in the event: Illinois (ranked 43rd), Indiana (44th), Iowa (185th), Michigan (133rd), Michigan State (65th) and Wisconsin (144th). Other title contenders include Oklahoma (18th), Kentucky (24th), Kansas State (33rd) and Colorado (35th).
Northwestern's lineup for this event includes Tom Johnson, Casey Strunk, Dillon Dougherty, David Merkow and T.C. Ford. Johnson, seeking to regain his early season form when he placed in the top five of three straight tournaments, leads the Wildcats with a 73.33 stroke average.
The Wildcats were last in action March 26-28 at the Furman Invitational, where they placed sixth.