Sept. 30, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - Once again, head men's golf coach Pat Goss has assembled a powerful field for Northwestern's Windon Memorial Classic. This year's edition -- which takes place Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 4 and 5 -- is the ninth Windon tournament. The Windon Classic will be held at Conway Farms Golf Club.
Headlining this year's 18 entrants is defending national champion California. Also in the field are Oklahoma, Toledo, Kent State and Purdue -- four teams that joined the Golden Bears at the 2004 NCAA National Championships in Virginia. Another nine teams -- Minnesota, Duke, LSU, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Stanford, Kansas, Furman and Illinois -- earned NCAA regional berths in 2004. The other entrants, besides Northwestern, are North Florida, UC Davis and Richmond, which is coached by former NU assistant Kevin Lynch.
"There's no question that this will be an outstanding golf tournament," says Goss. "The reputation of the tournament has grown significantly in a short time. This is always one of the highlights of our golf season."
Seven golfers who earned All-America honors in 2004 are entered in the tournament, including Oklahoma's 2004 Freshman of the Year, Anthony Kim. Peter Richardson, the defending Windon individual champion from 2003, returns, along with Minnesota, the defending team champion.
In eight previous Windon tournaments, the Classic has featured many of golf's top young stars: Northwestern's Luke Donald, Kent State's Ben Curtis, Stanford's Tiger Woods, Stanford's Casey Martin and USC/Oklahoma State's Hunter Mahan.
Along with Minnesota (Windon champion in 1994, '98 and 2003), Kent State (1993 and '99), Oklahoma (2000) and Northwestern (2002) have all won Windon titles.
The Windon Memorial Classic is a 54-hole tournament, with 36 holes played on Monday (Oct. 4) and 18 holes on Tuesday (Oct. 5). A practice round will be played Sunday.
Opened in 1991, Conway Farms is a Tom Fazio-designed course and it was named one of the best new private courses in the nation by Golf Digest. The 6,733-yard, par 71 layout is played on an open prairie and offers true links-style golf. With a 132 slope, its undulating bent greens and fairways require strategic course management and a variety of shots. Former Wildcat Luke Donald holds the course record with a 10-under-par 61 in 2003. Conway Farms served as the host course for the 1996 Ping/GolfWeek Preview, the 1997 NCAA Men's Golf Championships the 1998 USGA Junior Amateur, and the 1999 Windon Memorial.