April 27, 2012
Big Ten Championships Day One Results 
FRENCH LICK, Ind. -- With senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) in solo second place, Northwestern bounced back from an ugly opening round to card the second-best score of the afternoon, placing itself sixth in the field at the halfway point of the 2012 Big Ten Championships at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.
"Disappointing start," head coach Pat Goss tweeted after his team ended the first round in 10th place at 23-over 311. "Need to bounce back like Luke Donald did today and shoot our version of -7!" Goss was alluding to the former Wildcat and still current Goss pupil's 65 during the second round of Friday's PGA Tour Zurich Classic, a big rebound from an opening 73 for Donald on Thursday.
Goss' collegians did their best to follow through in the afternoon. "Players responding to a challenge after (morning) round," Goss tweeted. "Playing much better in the afternoon." That effort led to an 8-over 296 in the second round, which trailed only 36-hole leader Illinois' 291 and enabled the Wildcats to leap four spots in the team standings to sixth position at 31-over 607.
NU is two strokes behind fifth-place Minnesota and four shots shy of fourth-place Purdue while leading seventh-place Penn State by two.
Chien suffered back-to-back bogeys twice during his front nine in the morning, both times bouncing back with a nearly immediate birdie to turn at 2-over 38. Following a fifth bogey at the 10th, Chien turned it on with birdies at Nos. 12, 16 and 17 to claw all the way back to an opening round even-par 72.
"Proud of Chien," Goss tweeted. "Shoots 34 on back to post 72. Impressive round."
Chien had a much better front nine in the second round, answering an early bogey with a birdie at the par-5 seventh hole before making birdie at the 469-yard par-4 ninth for the second time Friday to vault himself into the individual lead. Chien gave shots back at Nos. 10 and 13 before a birdie at the 504-yard par-5 14th. A bogey on his 36th hole of the day put him at 1-over 73 on the round and 1-over 145 for the tournament. Chien is two strokes behind individual leader Luke Guthrie of Illinois.
Sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) had a difficult morning round, making seven bogeys and no birdies for an opening 7-over 79. He made a big bounce back in the afternoon, getting to 2-under on the round with early birdies at Nos. 2 and 5 before back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and the eighth led to an even-par 36 going out. Perry quickly got back into the red with a birdie at No. 10, then followed bogeys at the 14th and 16th with a bounce back birdie at the 17th for a second round even-par 72. Perry is in 18th place at 7-over 151 entering Saturday's third round.
Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) struggled mightily in the morning, eventually finding himself 6-over through 11 holes. Though he would birdie No. 15 and the lengthy 626-yard par-5 finishing hole, a double bogey at No. 17 between those two birdies led to an opening 6-over 78. His birdie at the 15th was impressive after he hit his second shot with the ball above his feet in the rough as he stood in a bunker.
The afternoon did not begin much better for the 2009 Big Ten champion, who carded double bogey on the first hole and bogey on the second. He remained at that level to turn at 3-over 39, then got to 5-over with bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13. Chun would par his way in for a second-round 5-over 77 and a 36-hole total of 11-over 155, good for 27th place.
"Chun hitting plenty of good shots, but misses are not in control," Goss tweeted.
Sophomore Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) made the first birdie of the day for Northwestern with an eight-footer on the 610-yard par-5 third hole, but double bogeys at the sixth and eighth gave him a 3-over 39 going out and things did not get much better on the back side, where a 7-over 43 led to an opening 10-over 82.
Losole did much better controlling the big numbers in the second round, again starting with a birdie at the third. He made four bogeys in his round -- but nothing worse -- and closed with a birdie at the long par-5 18th for a much-improved 2-over 74 in the afternoon and a 12-over 156 at the tourney's halfway point, placing him 33rd.
"Really proud of Losole for the way he responded after a terrible morning round," Goss tweeted.
Playing in his first Big Ten Championships, freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) struggled to an opening 10-over 82. In the second round, he endured four bogeys in a five-hole stretch on the front nine, but he alternated birdies at Nos. 7 and 9 into that streak for a 2-over 38 going out. A 40 on the back side left him at 6-over 78 in the second round and 16-over 160 for the tournament, placing him in 47th position.
The third round of the 72-hole 2012 Big Ten Championships takes place tomorrow, Saturday, April 28, with the final round being held on Sunday. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com while head coach Pat Goss provides live updates and commentary from the course via twitter @NUGolf_Live.
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