Golden Bear attacks have become a problem for the Northwestern men’s golf team in the last two weeks.
The team has not been playing tournaments in Yellowstone National Park, but it has been competing against No. 14 California, which has come from behind two weeks in a row to pass the Wildcats.
This week’s comeback victory was especially painful for the Cats and extra special for the Golden Bears, who were playing in their home event. Competing in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., the Cats had an 8-shot lead over UCLA and a 15-shot lead over California heading into the final round before losing it to the streaking California golfers. The Golden Bears shot an 11-under-par 273 in the final round to pass NU, which carded a 5-over 289 to finish in a tie for second with UCLA at 17-under.
“We had an opportunity to win it,” NU coach Pat Goss said. “Victories are hard to come by in college golf, and you will lose more than you win. I think it is a good sign, though, that we put ourselves in contention to win this tournament and we are continuing to improve.”
Last week the Cats sat in fourth place in their home tournament, the Windon Memorial Classic, before California snuck up on them. While NU faltered in the final round, the Golden Bears played brilliantly and began to show they were the team to watch. California outshot the Cats 277-299 in the final round to blindside NU and the rest of the field to finish second.
The team took another step in the right direction Tuesday with a season-high finish that topped last week’s fifth-place effort. The Cats also prevailed over one of the top teams in the nation, UCLA, after going toe to toe with the Bruins all week. It looked like it would be one of these two teams that would take home the championship before California came out of nowhere on the final day.
“Right now it is really more of Cal careering it than us blowing it,” senior Tom Johnson said. “We really aren’t worrying about losing to Cal but focusing on our beating up of UCLA.”
The Cats again had a marvelous individual performance to their credit this week. Sophomore Bryson Young carded a career-best with a 7-under 206, good enough for second place. Although he was never really in contention to win his first collegiate tournament — UCLA’s Steve Conway eventually broke the tournament record with a 13-under 200 — Young nevertheless cherished his performance.
“I was feeling better coming into the week and pretty confident in myself,” Young said. “I put up good numbers (Monday) and just hung on (Tuesday).”
NU had three other golfers in the hunt all tournament and finished with four in the top 15. Johnson (6-under 207) finished fifth, senior Casey Strunk (3-under 210) followed up his second-place finish last week with a ninth-place finish and senior T.C. Ford (1-under 212) had another strong showing and placed 15th.
Junior Dillon Dougherty (8-over 221), who placed second two weeks ago at the Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational in Toledo, Ohio, finished 53rd.
“I have never coached a team before like this one where every person on the team has a chance to win every week,” Goss said.
