Oct. 9, 2011
LA QUINTA, Calif. -- After the first day of play Sunday at the The Prestige at PGA WEST, Northwestern is in 12th position out of 16 teams. The 54-hole tournament continues with the second round Monday and the final round on Tuesday at the par-72, 7,156-yard Greg Norman Course.
Northwestern fired a 7-over 295 Sunday to sit tied with tournament host UC Davis after the opening 18 holes. The pair is one shot behind a 10th-place tie featuring San Diego and Duke. Pepperdine is one shot behind NU and sixth-ranked Central Florida is two shots behind in 15th position.
Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) led the Wildcats Sunday with an even-par 72. Beginning his round at No. 13 in the shotgun start, he found trouble with a double-bogey, bogey combo at holes No. 15 and 16. Negri recovered with eight pars in a row before a red-hot run of three-straight birdies at holes seven, eight and nine brought him back to even par. He parred out from there to put himself in 28th place overall in the field.
Both sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) and senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) fired rounds of 2-over 74 Sunday. Perry had a volatile back nine after teeing off No. 10, carding four bogeys and two birdies for a 2-over 38 going out. A much calmer front side featuring one birdie against just one bogey accounted for his 74. Chien, meanwhile, began his day with seven-straight pars before a bogey on the 18th hole. He got that stroke back on the 526-yard, par-5 second, but two more bogeys at Nos. 4 and 6 gave him a 74 for the day. The pair are in 49th place overall.
Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) made four bogeys Sunday and did not see his first birdie until the 617-yard par-5 eighth hole -- his 15th hole of the day. Lavin shot a 3-over 75, good for 59th place.
Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School), who has endured quite a travel odyssey in recent weeks after heading overseas for the Asian Amateur Championship earlier this month, rounded out NU's scoring with a 6-over 78. He is 72nd overall.
Live scoring for Monday's second round of The Prestige at PGA WEST can be found at Golfstat.com.
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