Oct. 12, 2004
FAIRFAX, Calif. -- Senior Dillon Dougherty (Woodland, Calif./Woodland) fired a third-round-best 67 on Tuesday to claim a share of the individual crown at the Third Annual Alister MacKenzie Invitational Tuesday at the Meadow Club. Dougherty, who shot 1-under 70's in the first two rounds, shared the title with Purdue's Bobby Bennett, who turned in rounds of 71, 68 and 68.
As a team, the Wildcats could not maintain their first-place standing they held through the first two rounds and charted a fourth-place showing, 10 strokes behind tourney champion Oregon State. Purdue finished second, and the host California Golden Bears, the defending NCAA champion, placed third, two strokes in front of the 'Cats.
For Dougherty (70-70-67=207), the tournament title was the first of his career. His previous career-best finish came at the 2003 Inverness Intercollegiate, where he placed fourth.
Finishing right behind Dougherty was teammate David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union). He finished with a 2-under 210 (70-67-73) on the par-71, 6,583-yard course. It also was Merkow's best collegiate showing, and his second straight top-10 finish this year. (He placed ninth at NU's Windon Memorial Classic.)
"Dillon and David played some great golf the past couple days," said NU Head Coach Pat Goss. "We were disappointed we didn't come away with the team title, but glad that Dillon got a championship trophy."
Junior Bryson Young (Reno, Nev./Galena) and freshman Dan Doyle (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) both finished 39th. Young, who finished a career-best second on this course a year ago with a 7-under 206, had rounds of 71, 75 and 76, while Doyle finished with scores of 74, 71 and 77.
Sophomore Chris Wilson (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) was 53rd with a 12-over 225 (71-75-79).
The Wildcats play their final fall tournament later this month at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge in Bandon, Ore.