Northwestern University Athletics
Field Announced for 1998 Windon Memorial Classic
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
July 17, 1998
EVANSTON, Ill. - After a two-year hiatus, Northwestern University this fall will resume hosting the Windon Memorial Classic, one of the country's premier collegiate golf tournaments. The 1998 edition will be held Mon.-Tue., Oct. 5-6, at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill., with 36 holes of competition on Oct. 5 and the final 18 holes taking place on Oct. 6.
"We are very excited about this year's Windon Memorial Classic," said Northwestern head coach Pat Goss. "The tournament was started in 1993 with the intent of bringing the best collegiate men's golf players to the Chicagoland area. I believe we have captured that in the 12 teams competing this October."
The field for the 1998 Windon Memorial Classic, with last year's NCAA finish in parentheses, will be Minnesota (seventh); Miami, Ohio (13th); Florida (14th); Northwestern (19th); Kent (24th); Oklahoma (29th); Duke; Stanford; Texas; Texas A&M; Tulsa and Wake Forest. Ten of the 12 teams in the field qualified for last year's NCAA regionals with six advancing to the NCAA Championships.
The 1998 Windon field is expected include both last year's NCAA champion and runner-up in Minnesota's James McLean and Stanford's Joel Kribel. Last year as a freshman, McLean won the NCAA individual crown, firing rounds of 71-66-65-69 for a 17-under-par 271. Kribel, a senior-to-be at Stanford, was runner-up at last year's NCAAs with a 272. He is a three-time All-American, was the 1997 U.S. Amateur runner-up and made the cut at The Masters this past April. Three other All-Americans from last year should also be in attendance: Oklahoma's Hunter Haas (second team), Northwestern's Luke Donald (third team) and Kent's Ben Curtis (honorable mention).
The inaugural tournament, known as the Quintessence Classic, was played in 1993 and won by Stanford's Casey Martin. It was renamed the Windon Memorial Classic after tournament committee chairman Bernie Windon, who passed away in December of 1993. In 1995, the last time the Windon was played, Florida's Josh McCumber edged Stanford's Tiger Woods by two strokes for the individual crown. The Windon Memorial Classic was not held in 1996 or 1997 as NU hosted the 1996 Ping/Golfweek Preview and the 1997 NCAA Championships.
North Shore Country Club, host of this year's tournament, is a par 72, 7,031 yard course. Among the top tournaments it has also hosted are the 1933 U.S. Open and the 1939 and 1983 U.S. Amateur Championships.
