GLENVIEW, Ill. – Standing on the first fairway, Northwestern coach Pat Goss watched the 15 seconds which decided the tournament.
Just after NU junior David Merkow tapped in a birdie on 18, junior Chris Wilson knocked in a 12-foot birdie putt on the first hole.
The two birdies combined with two pars from Minnesota’s Antti Ahokas and Niall Turner gave the Cats the team title Tuesday in the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge at the Glen Club.
Merkow won the individual title by one stroke over Washington’s James Lepp, who won the 2005 NCAA national championship.
NU finished with a 4-under 860, three shots ahead of the Gophers and five ahead of Arizona State. The win was the Cats’ first in a year. They won the Windon Memorial Classic last October at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Ill.
“It was a great finish for us,” Goss said. “The ability to persevere is what defines you. We showed a lot of character on the last few holes.”
NU shot 4-under on the last five holes to put the tournament away.
Merkow led the charge for the second consecutive round, making three birdies on the last five holes. The junior finished with a 7-under 209.
Merkow started the day erratically, making eagle on the first hole and double-bogeying the third and fourth holes.
But the mishaps on the third and fourth were his last blemishes of the day. Merkow made six birdies, during a final round 4-under 68.
“I never thought about the double bogeys after they happened,” Merkow said. “I kept plugging along and made birdies on five, eight and 10 to get back into it.”
The title was Merkow’s first at NU, and he said it was his first individual win since his junior year of high school.
The Cats’ last individual champion was senior Dillon Dougherty in last season’s Alister MacKenzie Invitational.
“To win the individual and team titles feels great,” Merkow said. “I felt a little more pressure on the last couple of holes because I knew the team needed me too. But that’s the reason why I play.”
Wilson came to the par-3 17th at even-par for his round, but he found the water on his approach to the green. He salvaged a bogey for the hole.
The junior responded on the 18th and first holes with back-to-back birdies. The final round was a shotgun start, during which all the players started on different holes. On the par-5 first, Wilson’s last hole of the day, he sent the ball left of the green but got up and down to make birdie.
Wilson finished four shots behind Merkow with a 3-under 213.
“In the past the last holes hurt us,” Wilson said. “But we finished well. It was a good opportunity to establish ourselves.”
Senior Dillon Dougherty finished strongly, shooting 2-under on the last five holes. He tied for 23rd with a 4-over 220. Sophomore Dan Doyle and senior Bryson Young finished tied for 35th at 7-over 223.
In the spring, the Cats struggled and failed to qualify for the NCAA championships. They had a successful summer as individuals, as Wilson won the Ohio Amateur, sophomore Kyle Moore won the Eastern Amateur and Dougherty made the U.S. Amateur finals.
So when the team returned this fall, Goss said one of the team goal was to establish Big Ten dominance.
“I thought we were a much better team than the way we played in the spring,” Goss said. “It was probably that failure that will lead us to great things. So I guess we’ve come full circle with this win.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
