Nov. 3, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's golf team, ranked 35th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index, returns to action this Monday, Nov. 6, when it plays its second straight West-Coast event, the CordeValle Collegiate in San Martin, Calif.
The 'Cats are coming off of a fourth-place showing at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge, which was played in Bandon, Ore. Freshman Jonathan Bowers (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson), who is ranked 51st in the latest Golfweek index, finished fourth as an individual to claim his third top-10 finish in four fall events.
Bowers' fourth-place finish on the difficult Pacific Dunes course was the highest individual finish by any Wildcat this fall.
David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union) was the only Wildcat to shoot a round of par or better, shooting an even-par 71 in the final round to help Northwestern move two spots up the leaderboard.
Northwestern also participated in last year's inaugural CordeValle Collegiate, and likely has fond memories of its play. The 'Cats finished second and shot a 9-under total for 54 holes, highlighted by a tournament-best round of 11-under 277 in the second round.
The 'Cats will need to rely on this experience as they face a very formidable field. Led by the CordeValle's host institution, third-ranked UCLA, eight of the other 16 teams in this year's event are ranked in the top 40 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index.
The 54-hole event will be played at CordeValle Country Club, a par-72 layout that measures 7,119 yards.
The teams will play 36 holes on Monday, beginning with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Central time. The final 18 holes will be played Tuesday with players teeing off holes 1 and 10 beginning at 9 a.m. as well.
Live stats for the CordeValle Collegiate can be found at CordeValle Collegiate.