Northwestern Remains Tied for Eighth at NCAA Regional

5/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

May 20, 2011

NCAA Colorado Regional Round One Results (PDF Format)

NCAA Colorado Regional Round Two Results (PDF Format)

ERIE, Colo. -- Friday at the NCAA Colorado Regional of the 2011 NCAA Championships saw yet another lightning delay, but Northwestern was able to go under par as a team and stay in eighth place entering tomorrow's final round.

The Wildcats are tied with No. 35 Chattanooga at 3-over par following 36 holes of play, seven strokes behind No. 24 Arizona State and Colorado State in sixth and eight shots behind No. 38 TCU, which currently holds the magical No. 5 position. The top five teams at the end of tomorrow's final round advance to the NCAA National Championships.

Friday's action began with the completion of the suspended first round from Thursday. Only freshman Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) was able to finish prior to Thursday's lightning delay, making birdie on three of his final six holes to card a 1-under 71. Northwestern teed off the back nine to start the Regional, putting sophomore Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) on No. 9 tee at 2-over par to complete his 18th hole of the first round. Junior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) was on No. 8 tee at 1-over par and senior David Lipsky (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) found himself in No. 7 fairway at 2-over.

The end to round one proved to be uneventful for the Wildcats, with pars made all around save for a Lipsky wedge at No. 8 that he caught fat, leading to a bogey. In the individual standings after 18 holes, Perry was 16th at 1-under 71, Chun was 36th at 1-over 73, Losole was 45th at 2-over 74 and Lipsky was 51st at 3-over 75. Senior Josh Dupont (Poway, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) rounded out NU's lineup with a 7-over 79, slating him 67th in the field.

As a team, Northwestern stood alone in eighth place with a 5-over 293, four shots away from a two-way tie for fifth between No. 25 Clemson and No. 38 TCU. NU led Denver and No. 12 Georgia by a stroke.

In the second round, the wet and soft course conditions with good greens after the rains in the past couple of days made scoring much easier. Another lightning delay struck the field late in the round, but this time the weather cleared out in enough time to allow for completion of play. Northwestern carded a 2-under 286 as a team to give it a 36-hole total of 3-over 579 (293-286).

"We have some work to do tomorrow," head coach Pat Goss tweeted. "Today was the solid round, tomorrow needs to be the good round."

Lipsky had a tremendous second round for Northwestern, which again teed off the back nine. He made par on No. 11 with a great up-and-down, then played two strong shots to give himself another simple up-and-down for birdie at No. 12. Another birdie at 13 put him at 2-under before he made bogey at No. 16, but the senior quickly got that stroke back with another bird at No. 17.

On the front nine, Lipsky rolled in a nice putt on the 626-yard par 5 second hole to get to 3-under before eventually finding himself 5-under on the day after a birdie at No. 7. Lipsky would make a bogey on his final hole, but still led NU with a 4-under 68 to jump from 51st individually to 22nd overall at 1-under 143 (75-68).

Chun played an incredibly steady second round, making 16 pars, one bogey and one birdie for an even-par 72. The junior had an eight-foot putt for birdie on his final hole -- No. 9 -- when the lightning delay struck, but he missed the putt after play resumed. Chun is in 32nd place overall at 1-over 145 (73-72).

Losole was two-over as he made the turn Friday afternoon, but got back to even with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. The sophomore was in danger of going over par again when his tee shot on the 219-yard par-3 ninth hole went over the green, but Losole expertly executed a difficult up-and-down to card his 72 and place himself 39th in the field at 2-over 146 (74-72).

Perry made 13-consecutive pars to start his second round, but bogeys on each of the front nine's par-3 holes led to a 2-over 74 Friday afternoon. For the tournament, the freshman is in 32nd place at 1-over 145 (71-74).

Dupont improved four strokes from his first round to second, carding a 3-over 75 in the afternoon to end up in 71st place at 10-over 154 (79-75).

The final round of the NCAA Colorado Regional takes place tomorrow, Saturday, May 21. Live results are available at Golfstat.com while live tweets from the course courtesy of head coach Pat Goss can be found on Twitter @NUGolf_Live.

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