May 3, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- This week Northwestern sophomore Kyle Moore (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) will become the second member of the men's golf team to play in a professional golf event this year as an amateur. Moore is participating in the Nationwide Tour's Virginia Beach Open in Virginia Beach, Va., this Thursday through Sunday, May 4-7.
Moore has an 8:15 a.m. CDT first-round tee time on Thursday. You can follow the action by clicking Nationwide Tour Leaderboard.
The 72-hole event will have a cut after the second round is completed.
Moore earned an exemption into the Nationwide Tour event last summer. He took home medalist honors at the 49th Annual Eastern Amateur Golf Tournament in Portsmouth, Va. Moore fired a 72-hole total of 13-under par 267 to set a tournament record. He shot 65-67-67-69 en route to a six-shot victory.
The previous record of 268 was initially set in 1975 by Curtis Strange, a 17-time winner on the PGA Tour and the 1974 NCAA Champion. Strange played his collegiate golf at Wake Forest and led the Demon Deacons to back-to-back NCAA team titles in 1974 and 1975.
Strange, a Virginia native and the owner of two U.S. Open Championships, served as consultant on the creation of the TPC of Virginia Beach, the host course for the Virginia Beach Open. The mammoth 7,432-yard, par-72 layout was designed by course architect Pete Dye.
The course ranked as the 11th-toughest course on the Nationwide Tour in 2005. Three holes (Nos. 2, 10 and 18) all ranked in the top 20 of the toughest holes on the Tour.
This year's Virginia Beach Open is scheduled to feature 12 of the top 15 money leaders. Included in the field are 17 former PGA Tour winners.
Troy Matteson won the Virginia Beach Open a year ago. He finished first on the money list with a record $495,009 in earnings.
Chris Couch was the runner-up, and he won last week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA Tour.
Moore already has won a tournament this year on a course that hosts a professional tournament. He carded a 1-under 215 on Dublin's Muirfield Village Golf Club, home of the PGA's Memorial Tournament, to take home the 36th Robert Kepler Intercollegiate title. For Moore, a native of Dublin, Ohio, it was the perfect place to win his first collegiate tournament.
Moore is fourth in team scoring with a 74.35 average. His 7-under 65 at the CordeValle Collegiate is the lowest on the team and tied for sixth-best in school history.
Senior Dillon Dougherty (Woodland, Calif./Woodland) is the other Wildcat to have competed in a professional event as an amateur this year. He played in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in early April 2006. The second-team All-Big Ten selection received a Master's berth by finishing as the U.S. Amateur runner-up last August.
His finish at the Amateur also gives him the opportunity to play in the 2006 U.S. Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club. The Championship runs June 15-18 in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
The 29th-ranked Wildcats won last week's Big Ten Championships at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill. The Wildcats return to action at the NCAA Regional Championships, May 18-20, at a site to be determined, but most likely in Chardon, Ohio. Northwestern will find out its regional assignment on May 8.