Since none of the players on the Northwestern men’s golf team have ever experienced the NCAA National Championship atmosphere, they are looking into the past instead of looking amongst themselves for advice.
To do that, they have to go back to the 1999-2000 season as they prepare for next week’s tournament.
Six years have passed since the Wildcats’ last appearance in the national championship. That team featured a pair of All-Americans, Luke Donald and Jess Daley.
The similarities between the two teams definitely exist. Both teams won two regular season events, one in the fall and one in the spring, and both teams won the Big Ten Championship.
However, while both teams reached the national championship, they did so in very different ways.
In the 1999-2000 season, either Donald or Daley led the Cats in every single event. That season Donald earned medalist honors four times, finishing in the top 20 in every event, while Daley earned them twice, finishing in the top 20 all but two times.
Just two years after that season, both Donald and Daley were competing on the PGA Tour.
In contrast, all five players on this year’s team have led NU in at least one tournament this season. Three different players have won medalist honors this year – juniors David Merkow and Chris Wilson and sophomore Kyle Moore – while senior Dillon Dougherty competed in the Masters.
“I would say they are very different,” coach Pat Goss said. “The 1999-2000 team was very top-heavy with two superstars. You knew Luke and Jess were going to play great, and it was always a matter of getting two of the other three guys to be decent. This year’s team is way more balanced. We have five solid players who can compete every week.”
Even though the teams are so different, the current players have been able to learn from the experiences of previous NU teams.
The night before the final round of the Big Ten Championships, the Cats had a dinner to honor all of their previous Big Ten Championship teams. Many of the players from those teams, including Donald and Daley, were in attendance and had the chance to speak. While they reflected on their own experiences, their words were addressed to the current players.
“It was pretty emotional,” Dougherty said. “When you hear Luke talking about the national championship and how cool that was, I think it made all of us realize how much we want to win it. We’ll definitely be thinking about that this week.”
In addition to learning from the teams of the past, this year’s team also has received a tremendous amount of support from previous players.
Donald, for example, was in attendance during the conference championships, enduring the cold temperatures and gusting winds that accompanied the final round.
“It makes all the difference,” Goss said. “We have a great NU golf family. It means a lot to the players that Luke Donald is so interested in this team that he put on his rain gear and baseball cap and stood in the freezing cold to watch them play.”
The current players have benefited from the guidance of Donald and Daley.
The two of them, in addition to other previous players, are with the team whenever they are in town.
“Previous players have been extremely supportive of us,” Wilson said. “Just being around those guys like Luke and Jess have given us some insight into what it really takes to make it playing golf as a profession. I know I have learned a lot just observing how they go about things on and off the golf course. They are all definitely class acts.”
While the 1999-2000 team ultimately came up short in the national championships, finishing eighth, this year’s team hopes to be different from that team – and all other previous NU teams for that matter – by winning the national championship.
“Our past history shows us that we can compete with any team in the country,” Dougherty said. “They’ve done everything they can do for us to help, but now it’s on us. I think we have a ton of momentum. If we play well next week, there’s no reason why we can’t bring back the championship.”
Reach Michael Schlossberg at [email protected].
