April 13, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern would love nothing more than history repeat itself this weekend.
Last year, the Wildcats jump-started their successful postseason run in Columbus, Ohio, at the Kepler Intercollegiate, where they captured their third Kepler crown. That title propelled the 'Cats to a Big Ten title and a second-place NCAA regional finish in the ensuing weeks.
This weekend, the defending Kepler champs head to Ohio State's Scarlet Course (par 71, 7,454 yards) for the 37th Robert Kepler Intercollegiate. In two weeks, the Wildcats return to Columbus and the same course for the 2007 Big Ten Championships.
Also notable is the fact that three of Northwestern's top five golfers hail from Columbus -- Chris Wilson (Dublin Coffman), Kyle Moore (Dublin Scioto) and Jonathan Bowers (Bishop Watterson).
Moore took home 2006 Kepler medalist honors, his first career tournament championship.
"I'm excited about this weekend," says head coach Pat Goss. "It's an important weekend, of course, to help get us ready for the Big Ten Championships. They've made some changes to the golf course and this will be our first look at them.
"It's also exciting taking our three Columbus players back home."
The Kepler Intercollegiate also will give golf fans a good idea of how the Big Ten Championships might play out. All but one Big Ten school -- Minnesota -- will be on hand for the Kepler. The top-ranked Big Ten clubs include: No. 31 Michigan State, No. 33 Wisconsin, No. 39 Northwestern and No. 48 Purdue.
Six other non-Big Ten schools are participating, including 20th-ranked Louisville, 32nd-ranked SMU, 41st-ranked South Carolina and 59th-ranked Notre Dame.
The teams will play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes Sunday. Teams will tee off at 8:30 a.m. (shotgun start) on Saturday and 8:30 to 10:50 a.m. off tee one on Sunday.
Live stats for the Kepler Intercollegiate can be found at Kepler Intercollegiate.