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2015 Big Ten Championships Victoria National Golf Club Newburgh, Ind. NU's Place: 7th/14 teams Golfstat Live Scores 54-Hole Results  |
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NEWBURGH, Ind. -- After an exciting day of play at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, Northwestern will enter the final round Sunday in seventh place, just eight strokes shy of second.
Play Saturday at Victoria National Golf Club featured the conclusion of the darkness-suspended second round before the third round was played in its entirety. NU currently is at 21-over 885 (303-288-294), three strokes behind a fifth-place tie between Minnesota and Purdue. Ohio State is in second place at 13-over, Iowa is in third at 14-over and Penn State is fourth in 15-over.
The fourth and final round takes place tomorrow, Sunday, April 26.
The break in the action last night did no favors to the Wildcats. Play was initially delayed Friday morning due to frost, making an eventual suspension due to darkness a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately for Northwestern, that break came with the entire team on absolute fire at 10-under par through 9-12 holes of play. Northwestern was in 11th position after the first round, and climbed all the way to fifth at the moment the horn blew to stop play.
When play resumed Saturday morning in much more deteriorated conditions, scores climbed higher for all but one Wildcat. Freshman Dylan Wu (Medford, Ore./St. Mary's School) was able to maintain his 5-under par status to finish in 5-under 67 while the rest of the squad gave back 10 strokes to put NU at even-par 288 for the second round and 15-over par for the tourney, still good for a four-way fifth-place tie.
The third round saw Northwestern start cold as a team before warming up on the back nine. NU was able to climb back up within striking distance of the top-two at rounds' end.
Wu's second round 67 came courtesy of a stretch of four-straight birdies from Nos. 8 through 11 on Friday evening. He followed that total with a 2-over 74 in the third round to sit just outside the top-10 with an 11th-place total of 2-over 218 (77-67-74). He started the third round with six straight pars and made the turn at even par. He was 2-under through 14, but finished with two bogeys and a double bogey in his final four holes.
Freshman Charles Wang (Beijing, China/Sarasota Christian School) was 1-under for the second round when play resumed Saturday morning, and he fought off three bogeys with a pair of birdies to card his second-straight even-par 72 of the tournament. In the third round, he made four bogeys and three birdies for a 1-over 73, putting himself in eighth place among the field with a 1-over 217 (72-72-73), one shot in front of Wu.
Senior Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) was 1-under par through nine holes in his second round when the horn sounded, and he remained on that number through 13, but a triple bogey at 14 and a double bogey at 15 pushed him to a second-round 5-over 77.
The third round saw the momentum continue in the wrong direction, with Negri at 5-over through seven holes. Then, he went bonkers, carding six birdies in his next eight holes to get all the way back into red figures. Though he would get double bogeys at both Nos. 16 and 17, he finished with his seventh birdie of the round at No. 18 for a 2-over 74. Negri is in 50th place at 15-over 231 (80-77-74).
Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) was 2-over through 15 holes in his second round before a rough finish gave him a 6-over 78. He started the third round Saturday with a double bogey at No. 1, but then made three-straight birdies from Nos. 3 through 5 to get into red figures. Three bogeys and one more birdie the rest of the way left him at 1-over 73 for the round and 15-over 231 (80-78-73) for the tournament, tied with Negri in 50th.
Junior Josh Jamieson (St. Andrews, Scotland/High School of Dundee) began Saturday at 3-under but gradually gave those shots back with bogeys at Nos. 14, 15 and 18 to card an even-par 72 in the second round. The third round was an adventure from the start with two double bogeys in his first three holes leading to a front-nine 7-over 43. He made three birdies in the first five holes of the back, but then a triple-bogey 8 at the par-5 15th led to a 9-over 81. Jamieson is 41st at 11-over 227 (74-72-81)
Northwestern - 7th/14 303-288-294=885 (+21)
T8 - Charles Wang - 72-72-73=217 (+1)
T11 -- Dylan Wu -- 77-67-74=218 (+2)
T41 -- Josh Jamieson -- 74-72-81=227 (+11)
T50 -- Matthew Negri -- 80-77-74=231 (+15)
T50 -- Bennett Lavin -- 80-78-73= 231 (+15)
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