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Jones Sport Invitational Valencia Country Club Valencia, Calif. NU's Place: 4th/15 teams BirdieFire Live Scores 36-Hole Results  |
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VALENCIA, Calif. -- With freshman Charles Wang (Beijing, China/Sarasota Christian School) in third place as an individual thanks to a second-round charge, Northwestern stands fourth overall among the 15-team field following 36 holes of play Monday at the Jones Invitational hosted by Pepperdine at Valencia Country Club.
The Wildcats carded rounds of even-par 288 and 2-over 290 to stand at 2-over 578, solidly in fourth position. NU is four strokes behind third-place Winthrop and seven shots behind second-place Kennesaw State. USC leads the tournament at 11-under par.
On the other side, Northwestern has a five-shot lead over a fifth-place tie between Sam Houston State and BYU, and a six-stroke advantage over host and seventh-place Pepperdine.
At one point midway through the second round of a shotgun start, three Wildcats all were tied for eighth place in the individual standings and Northwestern was a solid second in the team race before "a bad string of mistakes on simple holes...put us back to the field," NU Director of Golf and Player Development Pat Goss tweeted.
Northwestern made 34 birdies and two eagles in its two rounds Monday, but seven double bogey or worse scores reduced their effect in the team standings.
Wang made four birdies and four bogeys during an even-par 72 in the morning that could have been lower if not for four three-putts. Wang cleaned up his play on the green Monday afternoon to charge up the leaderboard, beginning immediately with birdies on each of his first three holes. After he gave a stroke back via his lone bogey of the second round, two more birdies led to a nearly perfect 4-under 68.
Wang is part of a five-way tie for third at 4-under 140, two shots out of second and five shots behind Kennesaw State's Teremoana Beaucousin, whose 9-under 135 is a major reason the Owls are in second place.
Junior Josh Jamieson (St. Andrews, Scotland/High School of Dundee) got off to a strong start Monday morning with three birdies in his first four holes. After he gave back a stroke at No. 10, Jamieson holed a 118-yard wedge at the par-4 11th for an eagle 2 and eventually got to 5-under par and a share of the first-round lead with four holes remaining. On the par-3 third, however, he overshot the green with his tee shot and plugged his ball in the bunker, leading to a double bogey and a still-very-good 3-under 69.
In the afternoon, Jamieson got on the roller coaster. He made bogey on each of his first three holes before an eagle at the par-5 ninth. Three more birdies after that put him at 1-under for the round and 4-under for the tournament through 11 holes. He then hit the skids with four-straight bogeys that led to a 3-over 75 and a 15th-place even-par 144 entering Tuesday.
Senior Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) was even par for the first round with six holes to play before a flurry of activity, including three birdies in a four-hole stretch. His birdie at the par-4 second came when he holed out a pitch shot. A bogey on his final hole left him at 1-under 71 to aid in the Wildcats' good morning.
Lavin was on track for a similar under-par result in the afternoon, standing on the 16th tee at 2-under par through nine holes of play. Trouble started with a double bogey at the par-3 16th before it escalated quickly and included a triple bogey at the par-4 second hole. He ended the second round with a 5-over 77, dropping from eighth place halfway through the afternoon to 33rd entering Tuesday with a 4-over 148.
Freshman Dylan Wu's (Medford, Ore./St. Mary's School) day got off to a rough start with back-to-back double bogeys on his first two holes. He clawed back to just 2-over par with three holes remaining in the morning before bogeys on two of his final three left him at 4-over 76.
In the afternoon, Wu again stumbled on his first two holes, this time with a bogey-double bogey combination at Nos. 5 and 6. He made six straight pars after that, then tapped in for birdie at the 13th to get his redemption started. He followed with an immediate bogey at No. 14, but played 3-under par the rest of the way to get all the way back to even-par 72 for the second round.
Wu's late day charge moved him up into a tie with Lavin at 4-over 148.
Freshman Sam Triplett (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep) started at No. 9 Monday and had an eventful first seven holes that included a birdie, three bogeys and a double bogey. He carded 11 pars from there on in for an opening 4-over 76. In the second round, Triplett suffered another slow start with bogeys on three of his first five holes. He was 4-over late in the day before a birdie at the par-4 sixth hole gave him one shot back to finish at 3-over 75. Triplett is 46th in the field at 7-over 151.
Northwestern -- 4th/15 288-290 (+2)
T3 -- Charles Wang -- 72-68=140 (-4)
T15 -- Josh Jamieson -- 69-75=144 (E)
T33 -- Bennett Lavin -- 71-77=148 (+4)
T33 -- Dylan Wu -- 76-72=148 (+4)
T46 - Sam Triplett -- 76-75=151 (+7)
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