May 19, 2006
NCAA Central Regional Championships (Second Round Results)
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CHARDON, Ohio -- With one round left to play, Northwestern is poised to earn its first NCAA National Championships berth since 2000. The Wildcats, the ninth seed in the NCAA Central Regional Championships, remain in second place, 16 strokes in front of the 10th-place team.
The region's top 10 finishing clubs will earn an invite to the NCAA Championships, which are slated for May 31-June 3 in Sunriver, Ore.
The weather -- which ranged from steady rain to constant drizzle with temperatures approaching 50 degrees -- favored the Midwest teams who are used to less-than-ideal conditions during the spring.
Northwestern, which started the second round a stroke behind second-ranked Oklahoma State, carded a 9-over 293 -- the fifth-best team score of the day -- but fell nine strokes back of the top-seeded Cowboys, who shot a Friday-best 1-over 285. The Wildcats' 293, however, was still good enough to keep them in second place, one stroke ahead of third-seeded Texas A&M and seven in front of Lamar.
"We battle in these type of conditions a lot in the Midwest and know how to compete when the conditions are like this," said NU coach Pat Goss.
The Wildcats' Kyle Moore (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) paced NU's balanced attack on Friday, shooting a 1-under 70 and giving him a 1-over 143 (73-70) on the par-71 Sand Ridge Golf Club course. His 1-over is good enough for a 12th-place tie with SMU's Colt Knost.
Northwestern's Chris Wilson (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman), the round one leader, and David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union), are in a fifth-place tie with Purdue's Bobby Bennett at 1-under. Merkow shot a 2-over 73 (68-73=141) on Friday while Wilson carded a 3-over 74 (67-74=141).
Northwestern is the only school in this Regional with three players among the top 12. Oklahoma State, however, has the two leaders, Zack Robinson and Jonathan Moore, who are 5-under and 4-under, respectively.
Senior Dillon Dougherty (Woodland, Calif./Woodland) and sophomore Dan Doyle (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) are tied for 49th place with 7-over 149's. Both players have rounds of 73 on Thursday and 76 on Friday.
Live scoring for the event is available at NCAA Central Regional Men's Golf Championships. The 'Cats will tee off early in the morning (starting at 6 a.m. CDT) alongside players from Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.