Oct. 23, 2006
BANDON, Ore. -- Northwestern, the defending Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge champion, is in sixth place after the first two rounds of this year's third annual event, which is being held at Pacific Dunes. The Wildcats (300-306=606) are 12 strokes behind tourney leader UCLA.
The 12-team tournament, which pits six Big Ten teams against six Pac-10 squads, was played on a sunny, but windy day along the Oregon coast.
The Pac-10 holds a slight lead in the conference challenge, owning a 16-stroke lead 3,015-3,031.
Northwestern was led once again by freshman Jonathan Bowers (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson). He is in third place with a 5-over 147 (74-73), five strokes behind USC's Jamie Lovemark who shot an even-par 142 on Monday.
Senior Chris Wilson (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) is 14th with a 9-over 151 (73-78). David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union), the defending Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge individual champion, is in 31st place with a 12-over 154.
The third and final round begins at 10:30 a.m. CT.
Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge
Pacific Dunes Course
Bandon, Ore.
First and Second Rounds
6,633-yards, Par 71
Team Standings - 1, UCLA, 284-310-594. 2, Wisconsin, 300-296-596. T3, Stanford, 294-306-600; USC, 295-305-600. 5, Washington, 300-302-602. 6, Northwestern, 300-306-606. 7, Michigan State, 296-314-610. 8, Minnesota, 308-304-612. 9, Indiana, 312-304-616. 10, Oregon, 305-314-619. 11, Illinois, 303-322-625. 12, Oregon State, 305-323-628.
Top Individuals - 1, Jamie Lovemark, USC, 70-72-142. 2, Jeff Kaiser, Wisconsin, 75-70-145. T3, Alex Prugh, Washington, 73-74-147; Erik Flores, UCLA, 70-77-147; Jonathan Bowers, Northwestern, 74-73-147; Daniel Im, UCLA, 71-76-147. T7, Matt Ma, Oregon, 73-75-148; Nick Taylor, Washington, 74-74-148.
Northwestern Results - T3, Jonathan Bowers, 74-73-147. T14, Chris Wilson, 73-78-151. T31, David Merkow, 73-81-154. T36, Kyle Moore, 80-76-156. T47, Dan Doyle, 80-79-159.