Northwestern Falls in Playoff at NCAA Regionals

5/17/2017 7:52:00 PM | Men's Golf

Final Statistics

BATON ROUGE, La. — Northwestern men's golf dropped a heartbreaker on Wednesday, tying for fifth place at the NCAA Regionals and losing in a sudden-death playoff to Jacksonville.

The Wildcats shot a 7-over 295 in the final round at the University Club of Baton Rouge, and finished with a +19 mark, one stroke ahead of Arkansas' +20 seventh-place result.

Tied after 54 holes, Northwestern and Jacksonville squared off in a sudden-death playoff, which started on the 18th hole. Two fivesomes played the hole, with one group comprised of three players from one team and the other group consisting of the other two golfers. It was played in a 5-count-4 format.

Both teams were all-square after playing the 18th hole, thanks to a pair of clutch par putts by junior Dylan Wu and freshman Everton Hawkins. Jacksonville and Northwestern both went 2-over overall.

Both squads moved over to the 10th hole to continue the playoff. An early birdie from Jacksonville plus three pars mathematically gave the Dolphins the playoff victory and the trip to the NCAA Championships.

This caps off a tremendous season for Northwestern men's golf. The Wildcats notched a pair of tournament wins — including Big Ten Match Play — and finished in second place at the Big Ten Championships. The team finished with a strong 287.09 scoring average over the 2016-17 campaign.

The 'Cats were led in the final day by Wu, who shot a 3-under 69 to catapult to a seventh-place finish. The Medford, Oregon, native made five birdies and did not make bogey — his only one of the day — until 16, his antepenultimate hole of the day.

He finished Regionals with a 3-over 219 (77-73-69) and finished the season with a scoring average of 70.53, the third-best mark in program history, trailing only Luke Donald's seasons from 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

Wednesday's round was the junior's 23rd of par or better and his 12th round in the 60s. He recorded his ninth top-10 finish of the 2016-17 campaign.

In his three trips to NCAA Regionals, Wu has performed exceptionally strong, never finishing outside the top-seven. He tied for fifth place in 2015, tied for sixth place in 2016, and tied for seventh in 2017.

Redshirt senior Andrew Whalen, in his last-ever regional competition, also played very strong on Wednesday, carding a 1-under 71. He made three birdies and two bogeys to get to his final score and he finished in a 24th-place tie.

Sophomore Ryan Lumsden finished the tournament with a 5-over 221 (72-73-76) and ended regionals in sole possession of 16th place.

The London, England, native finished the season with a stroke average of 71.88, the eighth-best park in Northwestern history, edging out David Lipsky's 2009-10 mark of 71.88 by three-thousandths of a point.

In all, three Wildcats notched top-25 finishes.

Freshman Everton Hawkins, who was +7 on the day, helped put the Wildcats in position to play the playoff with Jacksonville with a birdie on the par-five 17th hole.

Three Wildcats — Hawkins, Wu, and Lumsden — birdied the hole, putting the 'Cats back under the cutline after a fraught moment when NU lost several strokes on a rough 16th hole.

Conor Richardson shot 9-over and wrapped up the tournament tied for 51st.

The Wildcats owned a 4.80 scoring average on par-fives over the course of the 54-hole tournament, the best mark of any of the 14 teams at regionals. The 'Cats had the third-lowest scoring average on par-fours (4.20).

Individually, Lumsden was the second-best scorer on par-threes with his 2.92 scoring average. He and Whalen both notched 36 pars, tied for the fourth-most in the tournament.

The Wildcats will return their top-two scorers in Wu and Lumsden in 2017-18. Hawkins, Sam Triplett, Pete Griffith, and Luke Miller round out the returners for next year's squad.