Northwestern University Athletics
The 1999-2000 Men's Golf Season in Review
6/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 19, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Another Top 10 Year For Men's Golf
The Northwestern men's golf program had another great year, ending the 1999-2000 season rated No. 8 by the Mastercard Collegiate Golf Rankings. This marks the fourth year in a row the team has finished in the top 20 and the third out of the last four they have finished in the top 10. Two main reasons for the `Cats success was the play of junior Luke Donald and senior Jess Daley. Between the two of them, they won six individual titles and led the team to three championships. Their remarkable finishes marks the first time in school history that two golfers were named first-team All-Americans The British phenom, Donald, finished the year ranked No. 1 by Mastercard with Daley right behind him at No. 3. Daley started the year ranked No. 18 but made a steady climb up the charts ending the season with a third place finish at the 2000 NCAA Championships in Opelika, Ala. Both Daley and Donald finished in the top 10 with Donald placing seventh.
Season Recap
Coming off a third-place finish at the 1999 NCAA Championships the men's team didn't lose any momentum coming into its first tournament of the year. The Wildcats started off the fall season with a tournament title at the Ping/Golfweek Preview in Opelika, Ala., -- site of the 2000 NCAA Championships -- winning by eight strokes over second-place Clemson. This tournament included the top teams in the country and is considered the second most important event in collegiate golf behind the NCAAs.
NU played four tournaments in the fall and never finished below third place. The Wildcats finished second at the Windon Memorial and tied for third at both the Iron Duke Classic and The Nelson at Stanford. The 'Cats also reached the pinnacle of the college golf rankings, as they were ranked No.1 by Golfweek/Sagarin on two separate occasions during the fall.
In March, the 'Cats picked up right where they left off after the productive fall season. Traveling to Florida for the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate, NU finished third out of 15 teams. The next tournament, the San Juan Shoot-Out in Rio Mar, Puerto Rico, saw NU place second, its sixth straight top three finish of the year.
The `Cats then had a month off until the next tournament in Statesboro, Georgia, where they turned in their poorest finish of the year, placing ninth out of 15 teams at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational. NU then played in the Compaq U.S. Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico, where seven of the top 10 teams in the country competed. Behind the strong play of junior Luke Donald (second place) and senior Jess Daley (third place), the `Cats tied for seventh in a field of 12. Daley also recorded the second-lowest score in NCAA history shooting a 10-under-par 62, to set the course and school records.
Back on U.S. soil, NU turned it around as they won the Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus, Ohio, defeating 17 teams. The following weekend, the Wildcats fell one spot and finished behind Kent in a field of 18 at the Fossum-Spartan Intercollegiate to end the regular season.
In postseason play, Northwestern claimed its second consecutive Big Ten Championship with a 33-stroke victory over second-place Purdue in windy and rainy conditions at Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind. The `Cats shot the final day's low round (290) and posted the lowest team score in three of the four rounds. Individually, Donald edged Daley for his first Big Ten title. Donald, who finished at one-under-par 287, fired a final-round 74 to defeat Daley by one shot. Senior Josh Habig finished in a tie for third place at 292, and sophomore Chris Thayer tied for seventh at 295.
Northwestern also took home several awards. Donald, Daley and Habig were named to the All-Tournament team, while Donald and Daley earned All-Big Ten honors. Pat Goss was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time in the last four years, while Donald repeated as the Big Ten Player of the Year and the Les Bolstad Award for lowest season stroke average.
Following the Big Ten Tournament, NU traveled to Victoria, Texas, for the NCAA East Regional at the Victoria Country Club. At the tourney -- with the top nine teams advancing to the NCAA Championships -- Northwestern posted a 2-over par score of 854 for the weekend to finish in sixth. NU posted scores of 296-268-290=854. The `Cats second round score of 268 set the new school standard and was the lowest in all of the NCAA Regionals as well. With the sixth-place finish, the team qualified for the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight year. Individually, Donald finished in a tie for third place, shooting rounds of 69-69-70=208 to finish 5-under-par for the tournament. Habig finished in 10th with rounds of 73-63-75=211, just two stokes ahead of Daley, who fired rounds of 74-67-72=213 to place him 18th.
At the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships in Opelika, Ala., NU shot rounds of 287-292-279-280=1,138 to put them in the top 10 (eighth place) for the third time in the last four years. The championships were held on Grand National Country Club's par-72 7,003-yard Lake Course.
The `Cats got off to a shaky start but still managed to make the 15-team cut. Sitting in a tie for 13th place, NU sprung back to life and fought its way back to eighth place with rounds of 279 and 280 over the last two days. The team's final round was the fifth-best of the day, and their combined last two rounds tied Oklahoma State for sixth best.
Oklahoma State won a one-hole playoff against Georgia Tech to win the team competition, finishing the tournament at 36-under-par (281-276-275-284). Northwestern and the University of Houston were the only two schools in the tournament to place two golfers in the top 10.
Jess Daley shot a final round 67 to finish in a tie for third place. He shot rounds of 69-70-69-67=275 to finish 13-under-par for the tournament. He finished 10 strokes behind individual champion Charles Howell of Oklahoma State (67-66-63-69=265).
Donald defended his 1999 NCAA title admirably. He finished in a tie for seventh place (70-72-68-67=277), just four shots out of second place. Both Donald and Daley shot every round of the championships at or under par to finish a combined 24-under-par.
Habig ended the tourney at 5-over-par with rounds of 75-75-70-73=293. Riskam placed 75th, firing rounds of 74-76-75-73 for a total of 298. Senior David Shaffer finished with rounds of 74-79-72-78 equaling 303 and finishing in a tie for 79th.
