After a rebound of sorts, Northwestern is not discouraged by a tough tournament one week before the Big Ten Championships.
Playing between extended rain delays last weekend, the Wildcats took sixth place in a field of twelve teams at the Boilermaker Invitational.
Following an inconsistent fall campaign, the Cats did not finish outside the top five of each of their first four spring competitions. But a series of unforced errors led NU to its worst finish of the spring at the event hosted by Purdue at the Kampen Course of West Lafayette, Ind.
“Our play was definitely underwhelming,” Goss said. “We made entirely too many mistakes that were very preventable. Still, in the long run, I like where our guys’ game has progressed to at this point in the season.”
Though Goss did not seemed worried by the team’s modest finish at the Boilermaker Invitational, it may have been a good preview of next week’s Big Ten Championships. The event featured seven Big Ten teams.
“Maybe we didn’t show it that well these past two days, but I know how we can all play. I know we can win next week if we all play at our highest level,” junior David Lipsky said.
One NU golfer who found that highest level last year was Eric Chun, who took the Big Ten crown as a freshman. Though his 4-over 220 was tops for NU this weekend, Chun said he’ll need to regroup after a tough weekend.
“I’m definitely going to take some time to think about the things that went wrong this weekend,” said Chun, who finished in 11th place individually and led the field in par-4 scoring. “I’ll be preparing for the championships the same way as last year. I just need to keep my focus and go in with the right attitude.”
While Chun looks to repeat last year’s success, Lipsky hopes to ride consistent play this spring to a stronger performance at the Championships, where last year he finished 38th out of 55 golfers.
The junior was one of two NU golfers to finish in the top-20, shooting a 6-over 222 to take 18th at the Invitational.
Rounding out NU’s scorecard, senior Jonathan Bowers finished in 29th place with a 9-over 225, while junior Josh Dupont and freshman Nick Losole both shot a 13-over 229 to tie for 44th place.
Conference foe Illinois dominated the tournament, as it was the only team to finish under par. Goss said the Illini have the hot hand heading into the conference championship next week.
“They’ve been solid every step of the way,” Goss said. “It seems like they’ve always been one step ahead of everyone else. In a lot of ways, the Big Ten is theirs to lose, but after that, it’s tight. If they struggle, we’re one of five or six teams that can take it.”
Being one of the teams in position to win the conference tournament has Goss excited.
“Our game is right about where it needs to be,” he said. “We have a couple little details to look at, but after a weekend like this, we need to sort out the positives, and keep a good focus headed into next weekend.”
The Big Ten Championships start Friday in Minneapolis.
