Northwestern
Purdue
Lavin Comeback Gives NU Final Match Win Over Purdue
2/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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No. 5 Northwestern def. No. 8 Purdue, 2-2-1 (tiebreak) B1G Match Play Fifth-Place Match • Palm Coast, Fla. • Ocean Course AJGA Live Scores and Championship Bracket |
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PALM COAST, Fla. -- In yet another tight match that has become the hallmark of Northwestern at the Big Ten Match Play Championship, the fifth-seeded Wildcats got a win from senior Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) on the final hole of the final match to earn a 2-2-1 tiebreaker victory over Purdue Monday in the event's fifth-place tilt.
The win means Northwestern has never lost more than one match in any of the seven stagings of the tournament. The Wildcats are 21-4 all-time at the B1G Match Play with three team titles. NU won its opening match this year against Indiana, 3-1-1, fell in the quarterfinals to Maryland, 2-2-1 on the second tiebreaker, and then defeated Minnesota, 3-2, prior to Monday afternoon's match against Purdue.
Northwestern head coach David Inglis used the match play format of the weekend to get as much experience for his team as possible; no Wildcat on the seven-man active roster played all four matches. For the fifth-place match against Purdue, Inglis sat Josh Jamieson (St. Andrews, Scotland/High School of Dundee) and Dylan Wu (Medford, Ore./St. Mary's School) -- the Wildcats' top two players according to the Golfstat rankings used to seed individuals in this tournament -- after both had played in all three of NU's previous matches.
With Wildcats Charles Wang (Beijing, China/Sarasota Christian School) and Scott Smith (Pepper Pike, Ohio/University School) winning their matches by wide margins, and Purdue holding large leads in two more, it became apparent quite early that this match would come down to the last two golfers on the course: Northwestern's Lavin and Purdue's Austin Eoff.
Lavin and Eoff played relatively even golf all afternoon. When Lavin would win a hole, Eoff countered back within two holes to even the match. The third time that happened was at No. 13, where Eoff countered a Lavin win at No. 11 to bring the contest back to all square. This time, however, Eoff followed that up with a birdie at No. 15 to take his first lead of the match.
With all of his teammates long finished and now following along, Lavin holed a clutch putt at No. 16 to remain 1-down. Then, on 17, he rolled in an 8-footer and watched Eoff miss a 4-footer that would have won the hole and ended the match.
Having extended the match all the way to the 18th hole, Lavin took advantage. He hit a good drive then a three wood just past the green at the 466-yard par-4 playing straight into the wind along the ocean. Lavin then hit a beautiful pitch to two feet and converted the par to win the hole and halve his match, giving Northwestern the overall win via a holes won tiebreak.
For Northwestern, Wang went 3-0 on the weekend with victories of 1-up, 4 and 2, and 7 and 5. He was the lone Wildcat to remain undefeated in each match he played.
Below is a match-by-match account of Monday afternoon's fifth-place battle:
MATCH 1: Enzo Perez (PU) def. Sam Triplett (NU), 5 and 3
Sam Triplett (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep) and Perez each won twice in this match's first four holes. Trailing by one entering No. 8, Triplett went par-birdie to win the next two and make the turn holding a 1-up lead.
Perez took over from there, winning the next six holes in a row to defeat the NU freshman, 5 and 3.
MATCH 2: Scott Smith (NU) def. Brian Carlson (PU), 4 and 3
In a wild and wooly match, not one single hole was halved between Smith and Carlson until the ninth, with Smith taking the majority of the victories to hold a 2-up lead making the turn. He still held that advantage when he reeled off three-straight birdies from Nos. 11 to 14 to build a 5-up edge that ended up in a 4 and 3 victory.
MATCH 3: Charles Wang (NU) def. Stuart Macdonald (PU), 7 and 5
Simply put, Wang played flawless golf and dominated this match from start to finish. He did not allow Macdonald to take a single hole, winning seven and halving the other six the two golfers played. By stroke play measures, Wang was a bogey-free 6-under par through 13 holes, winning three holes via birdies and another win an eagle. He even made birdie on one of the holes he halved.
MATCH 4: Ben-Marvin Egel (PU) def. Matthew Negri (NU), 4 and 3
This match between Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) and Purdue's Egel put Smith and Carlson to shame in terms of holes not halved -- it took until No. 12 before Negri and Egel recorded the same score on the same hole. Unfortunately for Negri, Egel won seven times during that stretch helped by four birdies and an eagle to build a 6-up lead after No. 10.
Negri fought back to win Nos. 11 and 13 with birdies of his own, but pars at 14 and 15 did not result in any further hole victories, concluding the match.
MATCH 5: Bennett Lavin (NU) and Austin Eoff (PU) halved
See match recap earlier in this story.
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