Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Kepler Intercollegiate
NU Fires Best Kepler Intercollegiate Final Round, Finishes Fourth
4/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 15, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Northwestern fired the best team score of the day Sunday at the final round of the Kepler Intercollegiate, jumping up two spots to finish fourth among the 15-team field.
"(Saturday) was a disappointing day that ended poorly," head coach Pat Goss tweeted Sunday morning. "Not our best effort yesterday. Looking forward to a new day and chance to show some fortitude and resolve by bouncing back with a strong round."
NU showed that fortitude with a 10-over 294, which enabled it to jump over Xavier and host Ohio State for fourth position at 54-over 906 for the tournament (305-307-294). The Wildcats finished eight strokes behind winner No. 18 Kent State, seven shots in back of second-place No. 43 SMU and three strokes behind third-place No. 36 Indiana.
While competitors did not have to face the brutal rains that pounded the field Saturday, gusty winds bringing in another line of storms buffeted the student-athletes in increasing force throughout the day.
Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) began with a bogey at No. 3 before back-to-back birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 got him to 1-under par making the turn. He then endured a tough stretch with three bogeys on the first four holes of the back nine, but he stabilized with five-straight pars to finish his day with a 2-over 73 and a 54-hole total of 10-over 223 (73-77-73) to give him a fifth-place finish, his seventh top-10 result of the season.
Junior Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) started red hot with birdies at the second and third holes before missing the green at the downwind par-5 fourth hole, but he got up and down nicely for a par. Three-straight bogeys followed the par, however, to put Losole at 1-over 37 at the turn. On the 442-yard par-4 10th, Losole ripped a driver to 109 yards before stuffing his approach and making the short putt to get back to even par. He nearly found red numbers after hitting a masterful recovery on the 11th, but his birdie putt just lipped out.
Losole continued his strong play with good pars on the back nine aside from a tough up-and-down miss on the 14th. When he got up-and-down from the greenside bunker at No. 17 for par, it sealed a solid final round 1-over 72 and shot up into the top-10 with a ninth-place 13-over 226 (75-79-72).
Senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) played smart, smart golf all day, carding eight pars and a birdie at the par-5 fourth hole after hitting a hybrid from 252 yards to 15 feet and tapping in for his four. He gave a stroke back at the 11th to find himself even par again, but he continued to grind out pars the rest of the way for Northwestern's best score of Sunday, an even-par 71. Chien ended up in 13th overall at 14-over 227 (77-79-71).
Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) started his day with back-to-back bogeys on the first and second holes -- "Easy to do here," Goss tweeted -- before fighting back immediately with a birdie at No. 3 -- "Good stuff," commented Goss. Two more bogeys later put Negri at 3-over par through seven before he embarked on a string of six-straight pars. He ended the day with bogeys on four of his final five holes for a 7-over 78 and a 54-hole total of 24-over 237 (82-77-78), good for 52nd place.
Sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) never got untracked in Sunday's final round, carding a 12-over 83 to tie with Negri in 52nd at 24-over 237 (80-74-83).
Northwestern will take next week off before returning to action April 27-29 at the 2012 Big Ten Championships in French Lick, Ind.
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