Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
The Prestige
Northwestern Takes Eighth at The Prestige at PGA WEST
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Oct. 11, 2011
LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Northwestern carded another good team effort in Tuesday's final round of The Prestige at PGA WEST, finishing the 16-team tournament on the Greg Norman Course in an eighth-place tie with a top-10 ranked foe.
"(Today was) a solid day, but the rally fell short," head coach Pat Goss tweeted. "Solid tournament."
Northwestern tied with sixth-ranked UCF at 5-under 859 (295-280-284), one stroke behind seventh-place Arizona State and three shots behind a fifth-place tie between No. 18 Duke and San Francisco.
Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) fired a final-round 3-under 69 with an impressive performance, vaulting himself to 30th in the field at 1-under 215 (75-71-69). Lavin was even through six holes when he had to take one shoe and sock off to get up-and-down for par from a stance in the water at No. 7. The play jump-started a run of four-straight birdies from holes No. 8 through 11 during which he was "really putting well" according to Goss. Lavin did give one stroke back to the course to finalize his Tuesday 69.
Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) was all over the map in the final round, making six birdies and four bogeys to turn in a 2-under 70 and finish the tournament in 39th place at 1-over 217 (78-69-70). Chun's second hole was a microcosm of his whole day: he drove his tee shot into the desert, then his second stayed out there. On his third shot at the par-5, Chun pitched the ball out of the desert to two feet for birdie.
Unplayable lies on the par-5 eighth and 16th holes led to bogeys there, but Chun consistently drained enough putts for a 2-under 34 coming in that accounted for his score of 70. "(Today was) the best he's putted with the long putter," Goss tweeted.
Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3 got senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) off to a great start in the final round. He made the turn after a 2-under 34 on the front side, but an unplayable lie on No. 12 led to a bogey before a second bogey on No. 14 gave Chien an even-par 72 and a 54-hole total of even-par 216 (74-70-72). Chien placed 34th overall in the field.
Sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) got off to a very tough start in the final round, hitting balls into the desert on each of the first two holes to find himself 3-over par through two. He ended up with a front-side 4-over 40 before fighting back with three birdies and no bogeys on the back nine to card a 1-over 73. Perry finished with a 54-hole total of 4-over 220 (74-73-73) to take 55th place.
"I love the way Perry has responded after a poor start," Goss tweeted following a Perry birdie at No. 16.
After entering Tuesday at 2-under par for the tournament, freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) never was able to get untracked, making just one birdie en route to a 9-over 81. Negri finished in 63rd place at 7-over 223 (72-70-81).
Northwestern's next tournament action will be its own home tournament, the Windon Memorial Classic Oct. 16-17 at Evanston Golf Club in Skokie, Ill.
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