April 15, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With two events remaining before the Big Ten Championships, it is crunch time for Northwestern's 40th-ranked men's golf squad.
This Saturday and Sunday, the Wildcats are one of 18 teams battling for the 35th Annual Kepler Intercollegiate crown at Ohio State's Scarlet Golf Course (par 72, 7,251 yards). The field predominantly consists of Big Ten (10) and Mid-American Conference (6) schools. Kansas State and Xavier (Ohio) round out the field.
The teams will play 36 holes on Saturday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. On Sunday, the teams will begin from tees number one and 10 at 8 a.m.
Every Big Ten school, with the exception of 11th-ranked Minnesota, will be participating. Eleven of the 18 teams are ranked from 35th to 75th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index, meaning this should be a tightly contested tournament with no strong favorite.
"This is the time of year when you want to be peaking," says NU head coach Pat Goss. "We get to face all but one Big Ten opponent and several other top region teams. This tournament gives us an opportunity not only to continue to build upon what we did last weekend, but also to improve our regional rank."
Last weekend, led by Tom Johnson's third-place finish, the Wildcats placed sixth at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational, another event that included several Big Ten schools and a number of top Central Region foes.
"It was good to see Tom and Casey improve their games last week," says Goss. "They're two of our seniors and they need to lead us down the stretch."
After this weekend, the Wildcats will have a week to rest before returning to action May 1-2 at Michigan State's Fossum Spartan Intercollegiate. The Big Ten Championships follow the next weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich.