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No. 5 Northwestern def. No. 11 Minnesota, 3-2 B1G Match Play Consolation Bracket Palm Coast, Fla. Ocean Course AJGA Live Scores and Championship Bracket |
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PALM COAST, Fla. -- No. 5 seed Northwestern defeated No. 11 seed Minnesota, 3-2, Monday morning in the consolation bracket of the Big Ten Match Play Championship to record its 20th overall victory in the seven-year history of the event.
The Wildcats now are 20-4 all-time at the B1G Match Play, and are advancing to the fifth-place match Monday afternoon against No. 8 seed Purdue.
Senior Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) won his match against Minnesota in just 13 holes to put an early Northwestern point on the board. Freshman Sam Triplett (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep) and senior Scott Smith (Pepper Pike, Ohio/University School) -- the first two matches out -- each completed 1-up victories to clinch the match for the Wildcats, with Triplett winning in dramatic fashion.
Below is a match-by-match account of Northwestern's Monday morning contest:
MATCH 1: Sam Triplett (NU) def. Charlie Duensing (MINN), 1-up
A hallmark of Northwestern golf over the decades has been that the Wildcats never give up. Monday morning, Triplett earned his Wildcats' stripe. He and Minnesota's Duensing halved the first five holes of this match before Triplett lost the par-5 fifth hole with a birdie against Duensing's eagle. Triplett then made bogey on the next three holes to fall 4-down at the turn, at which point the 'Cats claws came out.
Triplett birdied both 10 and 11, then won No. 13 to get back to within a hole. When Duensing birdied 14 to go 2-up once again, Triplett countered with wins at Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to take his first lead in the match heading to the 18th tee. His win on 17 came after a great pitch from long and left of the green, resulting in a par while Duensing three-putted. Then, on No. 18, Triplett recovered from hitting his drive out of bounds to go driver-driver next to the green before getting up-and-down for a halve of the hole and a victory in the match.
MATCH 2: Scott Smith (NU) def. William Leaf (MINN), 1-up
In his first action of the 2015 Big Ten Match Play Championship, Northwestern senior Scott Smith (Pepper Pike, Ohio/University School) traded wins with Minnesota's William Leaf throughout the early going. Despite just two holes being halved in the first 11 of competition, neither player held more than a 1-up lead until Smith went 2-up with a victory at No. 14.
Leaf bounced back to level the match through 16 holes, but Smith won No. 17 via a birdie and held on for the victory.
MATCH 3: Matthew Negri (NU) def. Tyler Lowenstein (MINN), 7 and 5
Negri was all over his Minnesota opponent from the start, winning with great and ugly scores alike in a 7 and 5 trouncing. After falling behind to a Lowenstein birdie on the second hole of the Ocean Course, Negri won nine of the next 11 holes -- at one point during the stretch he earned victories with a double bogey and a triple bogey. The senior closed out his foe in style, draining a birdie putt at No. 13.
MATCH 4: Runar Arnorsson (MINN) def. Josh Jamieson (NU), 1-up
Josh Jamieson (St. Andrews, Scotland/High School of Dundee) roared out to a 2-up lead in this match by winning three of the first four holes, but Arnorsson took advantage of back-to-back bogeys by the Wildcat to square the match heading into No. 8. The two competitors then halved the next five holes in a row before Arnorsson twice grabbed late leads, first at No. 13 and again at No. 16. Each time, Jamieson countered with a victory of his own to pull level once again, but a double bogey from the junior at No. 18 resulted in a 1-up loss.
MATCH 5: Jose Mendez (MINN) def. Dylan Wu (NU), 3 and 2
Dylan Wu (Medford, Ore./St. Mary's School) tore through his two matches Sunday, but faced a much stiffer test Monday morning against the reigning Big Ten champion. Wu made birdie on each of his first three holes, but still was just 1-up after losing to an eagle on the par-5 second. Wu got to 2-up through five, but that's where Mendez took over. The Gopher made four birdies and no bogeys over the next 10 holes to defeat the Wildcats, 3 and 2, for Minnesota's lone win in the match.
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