Sept. 16, 2011
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. -- Northwestern completed opening-round action Friday at one of college golf's toughest tournaments, the Olympia Fields CC/Fighting Illini Invitational presented by Polo.
The Wildcats shot a team round of 19-over 299 to find themselves 15th in the field, six shots behind 14th-place Augusta State and seven shots in back of a 12th-place tie between Duke and Notre Dame.
Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) had a good start Friday, making pars on the first four holes. "Solid pars have value here," head coach Pat Goss said. Negri had his first bogey at No. 5, but made the turn at 1-under par following back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth holes.
A quick double-and-bogey combo on Nos. 11 and 12 shot him back to 2-over on the day before he immediately recovered with a birdie on the short 168-yard par-3 13th. A bomb of a putt fell at No. 16 to get Negri back to even, then a bogey on the difficult 18th led to a 1-over 71 and a 15th-place position in the field individually after 18 holes of play.
"Solid round," Goss tweeted about Negri. "He really hung in there all day and kept at it."
Sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) made birdie at the very first hole of the day, but the round took a downward turn soon after. A triple bogey on the 461-yard, par-4 third hole put Perry in black numbers before back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 10 and 11 left him at 6-over for the day. He stabilized from there, finishing strong with seven-straight pars to record a 6-over 76, good for 63rd individually in the field.
Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) made the turn at 3-over par following a six-par, three-bogey front side. He chipped in for birdie at No. 12 before another birdie at No. 13 put him back on track at just 1-over for the day. At that point, disaster struck to the tune of a bogey at 15, a bogey at 17 and a finishing triple-bogey seven at 18 when he three-putted from five feet. Chun's 6-over 76 placed him 63rd in the field.
Senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) responded in a big way to a rough start to his tournament. After hitting his initial shot out of bounds, Chien put his second ball in the cup in four strokes on the par-5 first to limit the damage to a bogey. He then birdied the 471-yard par-4 second hole to get back to even-par immediately.
He made 12 pars the rest of the way, but coupled that with two bogeys and two double-bogeys -- including one on the monstrous 496-yard par-4 18th -- to card a 6-over 76 and tie him with Chun and Perry at 63rd overall.
Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) had a good start Friday morning with three pars. A later run of four-straight bogeys from the eighth to the 11th put him at 5-over on the round. He recovered with four more pars in a row before doubles at Nos. 16 and 18 accounted for an opening 9-over 79. Lavin is in 79th place.
The second round of the Olympia Fields CC/Fighting Illini Invitational presented by Polo takes place tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 17. Live results are available at golfstat.com while Goss' live updates from the course can be found on twitter @NUGolf_Live.
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