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Northwestern Moves On to Big Ten Match Play Semifinals
2/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Feb. 10, 2012
Big Ten Match Play Bracket and Results
BRADENTON, Fla. -- For the third-straight year, No. 7 seed Northwestern is through to the semifinals of the Big Ten Match Play Championship after dispatching No. 2 seed Iowa, 4-2, during Friday afternoon quarterfinal action at the Concession Golf Club.
Northwestern will play No. 6 seed Ohio State in its semifinal contest Saturday morning for the right to compete in the title match later that afternoon.
Northwestern now has won 11 consecutive matches in this tournament dating to its inaugural playing in 2009, a stretch that includes winning the 2010 and 2011 championships. Most impressively this season, NU had advanced without a win from senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School), who entered this year's event with an undefeated 10-0-1 record to stand as its all-time most successful player.
Winning for the second-straight time Friday was senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel), whose training for this year's Big Ten Match Play was an alumni match against former NCAA Champion and current World No. 1 Luke Donald (Luke won that bout).
As in its morning match against Penn State, Northwestern teed off the back nine to begin its quarterfinal contest versus Iowa. Following is a blow-by-blow look as how the six matches shook out:
No. 1: Barrett Kelpin (IOWA) def. Eric Chun (NU), 2 and 1
Chun carded a bogey on the first hole of this match and never was able to bring the contest back to all square. His opponent fluctuated between a 1-up and 3-up lead throughout the entire afternoon, with Chun making a final push by winning No. 5 via a par and the par-5 seventh via a birdie to cut his deficit to 1-up with two holes remaining.
Iowa's Kelpin won No. 8 with a par, however, to defeat Chun, 2 and 1.
No. 2: Jack Perry (NU) def. Steven Ihm (IOWA), 2 and 1
Steven Ihm took the early lead in this match with a birdie at the first before sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) fought back with a birdie of his own on No. 12. The pair would make the turn with Perry trailing 1-down, but in that score is a tale of the sportsmanship that makes golf great.
As recounted by head coach Pat Goss via twitter, Perry told Goss during the front side that he was 1-down, but both his opponent and scorer told Perry the match was all square. Perry insisted on his point until they realized that Perry was correct and actually trailing in the match.
"Another great example of what makes golf a special and different game," Goss tweeted. "Any other sport would have taken (the) hole and not thought twice about it."
Karma kicked in for Perry with a win at No. 1 to square the match again. A birdie at No. 2 followed then Perry reached the 572-yard par-5 third green in two shots and his opponent conceded for a 2-up Perry advantage. Ihm fought back with an eagle on No. 7 to make Perry's edge just 1-up, but Perry ended the match with a win at No. 8 to account for a 2 and 1 score.
No. 3: Sam Chien (NU) def. Chris Brant (IOWA), 3 and 1
Brant took the early edge in this match, moving to 2-up through four holes after Chien made bogey on the par-5 13th. Just as he did in the morning match (though much less dramatically here in the afternoon), Chien powered right back with a birdie on the 190-yard par-3 14th and another at the 413-yard par-4 16th to bring the contest to all square.
Back-to-back pars at Nos. 17 and 18 were good enough to give Chien wins for a 2-up edge making the turn to the front side, where he eventually earned a 3-up cushion with a par on the 210-yard par-3 fourth. Chien went into No. 8 dormie and closed out his match in style with a birdie for a 3 and 1 victory.
No. 4: Bennett Lavin (NU) def. Brad George (IOWA), 2 up
Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) began with a bit of good fortune in this match, winning the first hole despite making a bogey. He built himself a 4-up edge after back-to-back birdies on holes No. 16 and 17, then George fought back to bring Lavin's lead down to 2-up through 12 holes.
The edge stayed there until Lavin stepped onto the tee at No. 8 with dormie status. He made bogey to send the match the distance, but Lavin closed the match the same way he began it: with a winning score of bogey on the final hole to account for a 2-up winning margin.
No. 5: Nick Losole (NU) def. Brian Bullington (IOWA), 2 and 1
Junior Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) fell in an early 2-down hole in his quarterfinal match, but quickly rectified the situation with a birdie-par-birdie stretch on the next three holes to take a 1-up lead through five. He made the turn with a 3-up edge following a winning par on No. 18, then extended that to 4-up with a birdie on the 423-yard par-4 first hole.
Bullington grabbed some momentum at that point in the match, whittling into the lead until Losole's edge was just 1-up with two holes to play. Losole answered the bell, however, with a winning par on No. 8 to capture the 2 and 1 victory.
No. 6: Joseph Winslow (IOWA) def. Matthew Negri (NU), 3 and 2
Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) won the first hole of this match with a par and did not play poorly at all; his opponent, Joseph Winslow, simply took control with an early three-straight birdie stretch to build a lead he would not relinquish. Facing dormie on the sixth tee, Negri made birdie to win the 180-yard par-3 but a par on the seventh hole was not enough, resulting in a 3 and 2 loss for the Wildcat.
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