At the start of the spring season, the Northwestern men’s golfteam expected to be one of the top teams in the nation. Headinginto the Fossum Spartan Invitational at Michigan State thisweekend, the Wildcats have failed to prove that they are even oneof the top teams in the Big Ten.
After starting the spring ranked No. 13 in the country, the Catshave fallen to No. 21. Except for a first-place finish in the RiceInvitational on Feb. 10-11, NU has failed to finish in the top sixin any tournament this season.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best golf,” coach Pat Goss said.”I think it is still in front of us. We’ve had a little of bit ofinconsistency.”
Perhaps the most disappointing finish for the Cats came in theKepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State. While NU faced competitionfrom some of the top teams in the country in the NCAA Puerto RicoClassic Feb 23-25 and the Seminole Collegiate at Florida StateMarch 10-11, the Cats were the top-ranked team in Columbus, Ohio,but finished in seventh place.
The Fossum Spartan Invitational on Saturday and Sunday will markthe last tournament for NU golfers prior to the Big Tenchampionships May 3-4. The field will be composed mostly ofconference teams.
“I think this tournament is very important for our confidence,”senior Bjorn Widerstedt said. “We need to show we’re going to playwell and we’re going to contend.”
The Cats’ top three golfers — junior Tom Johnson, senior ScottHarrington and Widerstedt — have yet to all play well in the sametournament. Each has struggled at times during the spring.
Earlier in the year, Goss said Widerstedt was the team’s mostconsistent golfer with consecutive top-six finishes, but the seniorstruggled in Columbus.
Since winning the Rice Inviational, Harrington has playedinconsistently but posted his two best rounds at the Kepler.
And Johnson has not continued his strong play from the fall,when he won his first collegiate tournament.
“If Tom, Scott and Bjorn play well, then we can beat anyone inthe country,” Goss said. “I am interested to see how well theseguys play when they all get going together.”
Johnson will be returning to the lineup after a one-tournamentsuspension for academic reasons. Goss said that Johnson has beenplaying well recently and shot a 65 in a practice round.
“I’m pumped up,” Johnson said. “I’m playing well.”
This weekend’s action is the last chance for the Cats to showthe rest of the Big Ten that they can compete with golfers from thetop schools in the conference, including Illinois andMinnesota.
“It is time for us to gain some confidence and get some momentumrolling,” Goss said. “Any success this week will roll to the nextweek. We need to show other teams that this is our time of theyear.”
