Northwestern looks to close out the regular season on a good note as they head to West Lafayette, Indiana this weekend for the Boilermaker Invitational.
The team’s final regular season tournament should present a good test for the Wildcats before next week’s Big Ten Championships. The Invitational features seven conference foes, including Illinois and Iowa, within the 12-team field. Coach Pat Goss says he’s curious to see how his team fares against strong competition a week before the conference tournament.
“It’ll be a good preview,” Goss said. “I’m interested in how we perform against Illinois, a top-15 program in the country. We have to beat them at least once during these next two weeks, and I think we can.”
NU did not participate in the Boilermaker Invitational last year, but they have fared well there in the past, including a runner-up finish in 2007. Hosted by Purdue, the tournament takes place at the 7,465-yard, par-72 Kampen Course, which will be the site of next year’s Big Ten Championships.
“A big reason I scheduled us for this tournament was to prepare some of our guys for next year,” Goss said. “This weekend will give us some valuable experience on the course.”
Tallying scores for the Cats this weekend will be seniors David Lipsky and Jonathan Bowers, who each have experience at the event. British Open-bound sophomore Eric Chun will start as well, along with junior Josh Dupont.
“These guys have performed well all year,” Goss said. “But they haven’t exactly been tearing the cover off the ball. Now’s the time in the season to rise to the occasion and excel.”
Freshman Nick Losole will also start for the Cats after winning an intrasquad qualifier to earn the final spot in the lineup over sophomore Sam Chien.
“Nick’s really cleaned up his game this spring,” Goss said. “He earned the start this weekend because he really turned it on in practice, and I’m interested in how he responds against strong competition.”
The Cats have rebounded from a shaky fall season to make top-five finishes in each of their four spring events up to this point, including first place at the Big Ten Match Play Championships. Still, Goss says his team has more potential.
“We’ve improved a lot over the season, but I’d say our performance in general has only been slightly above average,” Goss said. “We’ve played good golf-solid, but unspectacular. I want to see us use that continued confidence to produce some tangible results.”
In preparation for the tournament, Goss said his team was focusing on sharpening up their short play and avoiding unnecessary mistakes. Still, he noted that he likes where most of his golfers stand entering the home stretch of regular season play.
“There aren’t many specific parts of our game we need to work on at this point in the season, other than staying focused,” Goss said. “These guys just need to believe in their game and move forward.”
