David Lipsky Wins 2010 Big Ten Individual Championship

5/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

May 2, 2010

2010 Big Ten Championships Final Results (PDF Format)

INDEPENDANCE, Minn. -- Northwestern junior David Lipsky (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) made birdie on three-straight holes during the back nine Sunday at Windsong Farm Golf Club to pull away from the field and win the 2010 Big Ten individual championship with a 72-hole total of 3-under 281 (67-72-71-71).

Lipsky was tied with Michigan's Matt Thompson entering Sunday's final round, and the pair remained tied after the front nine. That is when Lipsky got hot, making birdie on Nos. 12, 13 and 14 to build a three-shot lead over Thompson. Lipsky rolled in a 12-foot putt on No. 12 and stuffed his approach right at the stick on No. 14 to help his cause.

"I made a long putt for birdie on No. 1 and that got my round going," Lipsky said. "I had birdie putts on 9, 10 and 11 that I missed, but I stayed patient and trusted my putting, and made birdies on the next three holes."

A double-bogey 6 after he found the fescue with his drive on No. 17 dropped Lipsky back to even-par on the day, but he still took a one-stroke lead into the clubhouse. Thompson was unable to make up the deficit, bogeying the 17th to give Lipsky the title by two shots.

"I put myself in chance to win a couple of tournaments earlier in the year, but I didn't get the wins," Lipsky said. "I learned from those and I'm pretty happy those experiences helped me win this one."

Lipsky's victory comes on the heels of sophomore Eric Chun's (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) conference crown last year, giving Northwestern back-to-back Big Ten medalists. Lipsky is the 10th different Wildcat to win the individual conference championship, and his win is the 12th overall in school history. Both Sid Richardson (1937-38) and Luke Donald (2000-01) won the Big Ten twice.

In the last 11 years, NU has won nine team and individual Big Ten championships. The last three times a single school has won back-to-back individual Big Ten titles, Northwestern was the school to do it. (Chun and Lipsky in 2009-10; Donald in 2000-01; Scott Rowe and Jon Loosemore in 1995-96).

Lipsky's tournament title is the second of his career; he also captured the 2008 Notre Dame Spring Invitational, which was a 36-hole event. In 2009-10, Lipsky has a team-best 14 rounds at par or better, including seven in the 60s, in 10 stroke play events. His 72.10 stroke average on the year currently is the sixth-best in Northwestern history.

"My game felt really good coming into this weekend so I knew I should play well and have a shot to win," Lipsky said. "Going back-to-back with Eric tells me our team is solid and we can really compete, so hopefully next year we will take the title as a team."

As a team, Northwestern fired the second-best round of the day to jump into a third-place finish at 27-over 1,163 (292-286-301-284). The Wildcats carded an even-par 284 Sunday to leap past No. 48 Michigan. NU ended up three shots behind No. 41 Iowa, which shot a 2-under 202 Sunday, and six shots in back of conference team champion No. 18 Illinois.

"The conditions today were not quite as tough as yesterday," Goss said. "We finished the tournament with a great round, but needed to hang on a little bit more on Friday and Saturday to give ourselves a chance at the win."

Sophomore Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) led the Northwestern team charge with a final round 2-under 69, an incredible 13 shot improvement over a disastrous 82 during Saturday's third round. Chien's score was tied for the best individual total of the day. He began both the front and back sides with bogeys before also making birdie twice on both sides. Chien jumped 12 spots in the individual standings with his effort, finishing 24th overall at 13-over 297 (75-71-82-69).

Chun carded a final-round even-par 71 to come in 10th overall at 7-over 291 (72-73-75-71), marking his second-straight top-10 finish at the Big Ten Championships. Chun started his day with a double-bogey on the first hole, but recovered with four birdies against just two bogeys the rest of the way. During the round, Chun found himself in four green-side bunkers, but was able to get up-and-down from three of them. The fourth? He holed that shot out for a birdie on the par-3 seventh.

"Sam shot the round of the day, by far," NU head coach Pat Goss said. "It was phenomenal, he could not have putted any better than he did. Eric gutted out his 71; he found himself in trouble on a number of holes but really competed hard."

Junior Josh Dupont (Poway, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) placed 30th individually at 16-over 300 (79-70-78-73) after a final-round 2-over 73. He made bogey on each of his first two holes Sunday before working his way back to even par with a birdie at No. 11. Two more bogeys in the final four holes dropped him back to 2-over on the day.

Senior Jonathan Bowers (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) concluded his Championships in 46th position at 25-over 309 (78-78-77-76).

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