May 1, 2011
2011 Big Ten Championships Final Results (PDF Format) 
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Led by a Sunday charge at the individual title by senior David Lipsky (La Canada, Calif./La Canada), every single Wildcat was even or under par Sunday as Northwestern fired a blistering 7-under 281 as a team in the final round of the 2011 Big Ten Championships to take second place.
Entering the day in a tie for third, Northwestern shot up the leaderboard during the front nine, making the turn at 5-under par as a team after combining to play the tough ninth hole in 2-under one day after the Wildcats played it in 7-over par as a squad. With a three-stroke lead over third-place No. 14 Iowa, Northwestern began the difficult back nine and again remained under par, ending up matching Illinois for the best round of the day with a 7-under 281.
The Illini won the team title with an 8-over 1,160 while the Wildcats were second at 27-over 1,179 (301-293-304-281). No. 14 Iowa took third at 29-over 1,181, two shots behind NU.
Lipsky played alongside third-round leader Luke Guthrie of Illinois and second-place individual Chris Brant of Iowa in the final pairing Sunday, and the defending Big Ten champion quickly began chipping away at his six-stroke deficit to Guthrie entering the final round.
Lipsky set the tone for his day with a birdie at the first. He then made birdie four on both of the front side's par-5s before getting within two strokes of Guthrie with a birdie at No. 9 for a 4-under 32 going out. Guthrie played the front in 1-under par, holing out for eagle on the par-4 fourth hole before bogeying at the fifth.
Lipsky immediately birdied his third-straight par-5 with a four at No. 10 to pull within a single stroke of the lead. On No. 11, Lipsky recorded his first bogey of the day to fall two back of Guthrie before both competitors made improbably birdies at No. 12 -- the stingiest birdie hole on the entire course entering the final round with just eight total birdies made there in that time. Lipsky's score of three on No. 12 pulled him out of a tie for second with Brant.
On No. 13, Guthrie stumbled with a bogey while Lipsky made a good up-and-down for par to get within one at 1-over par to Guthrie's even-par total on the tournament. The next hole saw Lipsky's first mistake of the final round when he hooked a 3-iron off the 14th tee and into a hazard, ending up with a bogey and again putting himself two back with four holes to play.
The 15th hole saw both leaders drive into the right rough. Lipsky's second shot put him short in the bunker while Guthrie went long into more rough. The NU senior did his best Luke Donald impression, putting his bunker shot inside of a foot for par while Guthrie pitched to four feet and also saved his par. Iowa's Brant made a birdie to jump Lipsky and position himself one behind Guthrie.
Needing to make up strokes on the 608-yard par-5 16th, Lipsky crushed his tee shot before hitting a great 3-wood from 260 yards to 30 feet away from the cup on the fringe. Unfortunately, he ended up three-putting to put himself three back, and despite a birdie on No. 18, he came in third place overall after a fantastic final round 5-under 67.
Lipsky shot a 1-over 289 (78-72-72-67) for the tournament to end up one shot behind second-place Brant and two strokes behind eventual champion Guthrie. His 1-over par total is fantastic considering his opening round 6-over 78 on Friday morning. He was named to the all-tournament team for his efforts.
Also beginning his day in the top-20 was junior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School). The 2009 Big Ten champion played even-par golf before finding red numbers with a birdie at No. 6. The fight he displayed in winning his conference crown then came out again Sunday. After a bogey at No. 8, he recovered for an immediate birdie on the difficult par-4 ninth hole for a 1-under 35 on the front nine.
Chun made double bogey on No. 11 to begin the tough back-side stretch, but again recovered quickly with a rare birdie at the 183-yard, par-3 13th hole -- which had yielded just 17 total birdies in the previous three rounds of the Championships -- to get back to even par. After a birdie at No. 16, he protected that red number with a great par on the long par-3 17th, getting up-and-down after missing the green to the left. Chun's 1-under 71 gave him a 6-over 294 (74-74-75-71) for the tournament and placed him 10th in the individual standings.
Sophomore Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) played an incredibly steady final round to give himself a top-20 finish at the Big Ten Championships. Losole made eight pars and a birdie at No. 8 for a 1-under 35 on the front side, then carded eight more pars and one bogey at No. 11 on the back to account for his even-par 72 in the final round that left him 19th in the standings at 9-over 297 (74-73-78-72).
Freshman Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) had a rough start to his final round with bogeys at Nos. 1 and 3. He quickly launched a 260-yard 3-wood to the green on the par-5 fourth hole to make birdie before another birdie at No. 8 gave him an even-par 36 on the front nine. He carded a bogey at No. 10, then had a flurry of a finish with three birdies and a bogey in his final four holes, coming in at 1-under 71 on the day and 12-over 300 (75-74-80-71) for the Championships. He concluded his first conference tournament in 25th position as an individual.
Senior Josh Dupont (Poway, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) played an even-par front nine before embarking up on a crazy back side Sunday. He opened bogey-double-bogey in the first three holes to balloon to 4-over on the day. He then birdied the 13th before taking advantage of forward tees at No. 14. The hole, which played 385 yards in the first three rounds, was 325 yards on Sunday. Dupont launched his tee shot all the way to the front edge of the green before sinking his second for an eagle to get back to 1-over. He completed the comeback to even-par with a birdie at No. 16 to end up 32nd overall in the tournament at 16-over 304 (78-75-79-72).
Northwestern now awaits the NCAA Championships selection announcement to find out its NCAA fate and destination.
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