Another year, another crown.
For the second straight season, a Northwestern golfer earned the title of Big Ten Champion, as junior David Lipsky paced the conference with a four-round total of 281 to win by two strokes. As a team, the Wildcats placed third at this weekend’s Big Ten Championships, shooting a 27-over 1163.
“It feels great,” Lipsky said. “I’ve come close to winning a few times this year, but to finally get it, especially here at conference, it’s really rewarding after a lot of hard work.”
Lipsky entered the final round tied for the lead with Michigan’s Matt Thompson. After staying close early on, Lipsky pulled away from the field with three straight birdies on the back nine. Recovering from a double bogey on the 17th hole, the junior held on to finish in first place.
“Coach (Pat Goss) kept telling me I was in a good spot,” Lipsky said. “Those birdies really helped out, and then I had to really tough it out through the end.”
Firing an opening round score of 4-under 67, Lipsky put himself in contention early on. He followed that up with a 1-over 72 before closing out his championship performance with two rounds of even-par 71.
“That first round was really important,” Lipsky said. “With that kind of confidence going into the next three rounds, I knew I could win.”
Lipsky’s title comes one year after then-freshman Eric Chun won the 2009 conference tournament. This year, Chun finished at 7-over 291 to tie for 10th place.
“Eric played well,” Goss said. “He has a lot to be happy about, and we’ll be expecting a lot from him next year.”
NU’s third-place finish marked its best showing at the Big Ten Championships since 2006, when it won the event. Though Goss was left wanting more, he said the Cats’ performance gives them plenty to take pride in.
“We came here to win, so there’s no question we’re a little disappointed. Whenever you don’t win, there’s almost a sense that you’ve let a year slip by,” Goss said. “But we did a pretty good job. We showed we’re getting better.”
The team title went to Illinois, which came in as the overwhelming favorite to win. Though the Fighting Illini led the Cats by 16 strokes midway through the tournament, NU closed that gap to just six by the end of the weekend.
“That was pretty encouraging,” Goss said. “It’s probably the best we’ve played against Illinois all year, and they’re a legitimate top-10 club. Our play really demonstrated that we can stand up and fight.”
Sophomore Sam Chien fought back from a disastrous third round to tie for the lowest score on the final day of play. His two-under 69 was 13 shots better than a forgettable 82 on Saturday, and it helped him jump 12 spots in the standings to finish in 24th place.
“His play was really just phenomenal during the last round,” Goss said. “His short game was dead-on. A rebound like that is no easy feat.”
Chien will be part of a lineup next year featuring two individual Big Ten champions in Lipsky and Chun. Though NU has won three back-to-back individual conference titles since 1996, two champions have never played on the same team.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Goss said. “It goes to show how much work these guys put in.”For now, NU hopes to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Regional seeds will be announced May 10.
“You’re really never comfortable until you hear your name called,” Goss said. “But I feel pretty good. We’ve played almost as well as I could’ve hoped up to this point.” [email protected]
