Oct. 3, 2005
Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge (Day One Team Standings; round 2 suspended)
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GLENVIEW, Ill. -- With the top five teams unofficially separated by two strokes, this year's Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge is shaping up for another repeat down-to-the-wire finish.
In last year's inaugural event, held at Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Ore., Minnesota finished in a first-place tie with USC, but won the event based on tiebreaker rules.
Monday's second round was halted due to darkness, leaving six teams (Minnesota, Ohio State, UCLA, Arizona, Washington and Illinois) on the golf course. They will conclude the second round at 8 a.m. Tuesday and then the third round will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a shotgun start for all 14 teams.
Officially, the host Wildcats are in first place, owning a 1-stroke lead over Ohio State and a 2-stroke advantage over Arizona State. Unofficially, Minnesota and Arizona State stand at 3-under, while Ohio State, Northwestern and UCLA are 1-under.
Tuesday's race for the individual championship figures to be just as exciting as the team race. Arizona State's Niklas Lemke and Washington's James Lepp, the 2005 NCAA champion, are both atop the leaderboard at 5-under. Lemke and Lepp both completed their second rounds.
UCLA's Daniel Im, who did not finish the second round, is 1-under officially but 4-under when play was suspended. Northwestern's David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union) and Arizona State's Alejandro Canizares, last year's Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge champion and the 2003 NCAA champ, are 3-under with completed second rounds. Merkow fired rounds of 71 and 70 for his 3-under 141.
Northwestern's Chris Wilson (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) is 2-under (72-70=142) after shooting a 2-under 70 in the second round. Dan Doyle (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek), Dillon Dougherty (Woodland, Calif./Woodland) and Bryson Young (Reno, Nev./Galena) fired respective rounds of 1-over, 3-over and 6-over. Doyle shot a 2-under 70 in the first round.
The tournament rotates annually between three courses -- Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes in Oregon, and The Glen Club in Glenview. All three courses are owned or managed by KemperSports Management in Northbrook, Ill.
A home trophy listing each year's individual, team and conference champion is being housed at Bandon Dunes.
In the conference challenge, the Pac-10 won the inaugural event with a combined scored of plus-162 to the Big Ten's plus-191. Each conference counted its low six scores of each round to determine the challenge winner.
Next year's event returns to Oregon and Pacific Dunes.
Tuesday's final round can be followed at 2005 Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge.