The Northwestern men’s golf team recorded the lowest team score in the final two rounds of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational on Tuesday, but still finished three strokes short of capturing its second consecutive title.
Led by junior Tom Johnson’s second-place finish, the Wildcats combined for an 8-under 844 to share runner-up honors with UCLA at the inaugural Invitational in Fairfax, Calif.
In seventh place after the first round, NU tried for its second straight victory, but was edged out by Fresno State, which shot an 11-under 841.
“We were close and we’re getting better,” NU coach Pat Goss said. “But we were disappointed that we didn’t come away with the win.”
“We were playing against some really good teams — Fresno State, UCLA, Washington — and it would have been great to come out on top.”
NU hosted — and won — its last tournament, the Windon Memorial Classic on Oct. 1.
Johnson shot a career-low 65 in Monday’s second round, leading his teammates for the second straight tournament.
But the California native’s final -round 72 left him three shots back of Fresno State’s Nick Watney, who took medalist honors at 11-under par.
“We’re pretty happy because we’ve played well the past two tournaments,” said Johnson, who was the medalist at the Classic. “We gave ourselves the chance to win, but we came up a little bit short.”
Strong scores from seniors Scott Harrington and Bjorn Widerstedt contributed to the Cats’ surge up the leaderboard in the final rounds of the tournament.
Harrington shot rounds of 68 and 72 to tie for ninth and Widerstedt rebounded from a first-round 75 with a 72 and 68 to finish tied for 19th.
“The most positive part of the tournament was that for the first time in a while we got good contributing scores from everyone,” Goss said. “Everyone helped.”
Another California native, sophomore Dillon Dougherty, recorded a career-best 69 in the first round to tie for 43rd, and junior T.C. Ford rounded out NU’s lineup tying for 49th place.
Played at the Meadow Club, the Invitational was hosted by California.
The Cats will finish their fall season next weekend when they return to northern California to play in The Nelson Invitational.
Hosted by Stanford, the Nelson will be played on a course Johnson has seen before.
“I’m from California, and I know the course really well because I’ve played there several times,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be really nice weather, and we’re looking forward to being back out there and going for the win.”
