Chris Wilson is the first to tell you about his freshman season at Northwestern.

“It was a disappointment,” said Wilson, a sophomore from Dublin, Ohio. “I don’t think I played one good round all of last year.”

During his first season with the Wildcats, he competed in only three events, with a scoring average of 78.33.

Considering Wilson’s impressive junior golf career, during which he won the Ohio Junior Amateur championship and qualified for four U.S. Junior Amateur championships, the disappointing year surprised him.

But in his second season at Northwestern, Wilson has shaken off the first-year jitters, leading the team in scoring average (74.76) and pulling in two top-10 finishes in his last three events.

After a five-week break, the Cats, led by Wilson’s improved play, open their spring season Friday in the Courtyard by Marriott Intercollegiate at the Devils Ridge Golf Club in Holly Springs, N.C.

The women’s golf team travels to Purdue this weekend, where it will play in the Lady Boilermaker Invitational, its first tournament since winning the Mountain View Collegiate in March.

The men’s golf team had a disappointing winter, finishing 16th in both the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships and the NCAA Puerto Rico Classic. But the lone bright spot on Coach Pat Goss’ team was Wilson.

“Chris’ performance at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships was unbelievable,” Goss said. “To finish sixth is really impressive. And only players like Jess Daley, Luke Donald and Tom Johnson did that, and all three were All-Americans.”

Wilson emerged at the top of the Cats’ lineup, adjusting to the pressures of college golf and adjusting his swing.

He said the biggest change came in his mental approach to the game.

“I was able to shut off my mind when I was on the course,” he said. “I didn’t think, I just played and concentrated on getting the ball in the hole.”

With Wilson’s consistent play and the leadership of junior Dillon Dougherty, Goss expects his team to make a push toward a postseason birth in the NCAA Central Regional championships.

Goss is going with a different lineup this weekend: Wilson, Dougherty, sophomore David Merkow, freshman Dan Doyle and freshman Kyle Moore, who returns to the lineup for the second event in his career.

Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].