Heading into the fall season, Northwestern men’s golf had the tools to make a dominant run.
Senior Dillon Dougherty reached the final of the 105th U.S. Amateur in August. Junior Chris Wilson won the Ohio Amateur and finished runner-up at the Western Amateur. Sophomore Kyle Moore won the Eastern Amateur and set a scoring record in the process.
But when the No. 16 Wildcats finished second in their final tournament of the fall, coach Pat Goss said he wasn’t very impressed with his team’s showing in the season’s first half.
“We had an OK fall,” Goss said after his team finished six shots behind host and fifth-ranked UCLA at the CordeValle Collegiate, played at CordeValle Country Club in San Martin, Calif.
The Cats won the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge and finished second twice, but also tallied a sixth-place finish and a season-worst 10th-place finish at the Bank of Tennessee Ridges Intercollegiate.
Their performance at the CordeValle summed up their fall – several brilliant rounds, but too many double-bogeyes, mental mistakes and short-game issues, Goss said.
Four of NU’s five players carded rounds in the 60s, including a 7-under 65 from Moore. But the Cats also recorded five rounds of 75 or higher on the par-72 course, earning themselves a 9-under 855 for the two-day, three-round tournament.
And while Goss said he was somewhat happy with his team’s “solid” tournament – the Cats beat eight of Golfweek’s top 50 teams – he said the Cats had a chance to do more without their mistakes.
Behind Moore’s round, NU shot an 11-under second round Monday, moving them from fourth place to second and to within three shots of the Bruins. But the Cats could not capitalize, falling three shots shy of UCLA on Tuesday.
Dougherty led the way, finishing at 3-under and in a fourth-place tie. Sophomore Dan Doyle tied for seventh at 2-under and Moore bookended his stellar second round with a pair of 3-over 75s, finishing with two others at 1-under and in 11th place.
Goss said he was encouraged by Dougherty’s performance, saying it’s very impressive “when you can go out there and not play your best game, and still finish fourth in that field.”
The Cats coach also said that with all the talented players on his squad, he expects NU to find itself highly ranked come springtime.
“At some point in the spring, we’re going to put it all together,” Goss said. “And I think we’re going to be really good.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].
