Men’s Golf: Consistent Wildcats cruise to fourth place in Erin, Wisconsin

Tyler VanderMolen, Reporter

Northwestern wrapped up a blustery week at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate in Wisconsin with a solid final round on Monday, cementing the squad’s fourth-place finish in a strong 11-team field.

It was a showing marked by consistency in the Wildcats’ second tournament of the season. The team sat in fourth after each of the first two rounds, and remained within striking distance of third until the event’s final holes.

“The cold and the wind really made things difficult for those first two days,” junior Josh Jamieson said. “Scoring was tough, but we did a good job of hanging around.”

Led by Jamieson’s opening rounds of 72-73, the team sat only two shots behind host Marquette heading into a day in which conditions projected to surrender more low numbers.

On Monday it was a pair of freshmen who stepped up to lead Northwestern’s late rally.

After enduring what coach David Inglis described as a “disastrous” start in his first collegiate team action, freshman Charles Wang rebounded with a sizzling three-under 69 on the tournament’s final day, a score Inglis believes could have been even better.

“The 69 that Charles posted today could have easily been a 65 or 66,” the coach said. “For him to bounce back like that after the way he started was really impressive.”

Wang came out firing on all cylinders, carding birdies on his first two holes and burning the edge on a mid-range putt that would have made it three in a row. After a bogey at No. 10 dropped him back to one-under, Wang fished strong with birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 en route to one of the best round of his young collegiate career.

Inglis also praised a strong showing by freshman Dylan Wu, whose rounds of 75-73-70 (two-over) were good enough to tie for seventh place individually.

Jamieson finished as the top Cats player on the leaderboard in a tie for sixth after posting a three-day score of one-over, but expressed some frustration with his final round performance.

“I just made a lot of silly mistakes today, so it was a bit disappointing from an individual standpoint,” Jamieson said. “Still, it’s nice knowing that I’m able to go out and shoot 72 even when I’m not at my best.”

The team’s Monday score of 294 (-4) brought their tournament total to 880 (+16), 21 shots behind runaway winner UCLA, who shot a five-under 859. SMU posted a respectable 871 (+7) to place second, and Marquette rounded out the top three with an 878 (+14).

SMU’s Bryson Dechambeau earned the tournament’s medalist honors, carding a three-day score of four-under to win by a single shot.

Inglis was encouraged by the showing from his young squad, particularly given the difficult conditions and complexity of the course itself, which will play host to the 2017 U.S. Open.

“Erin Hills obviously presents it’s town unique test, and any time you have freshmen leading the way like we did today it’s a great thing,” Inglis said. “You combine that with how well Josh and Bennett (Lavin) played, and I think you have reason to feel good about the direction we are headed in.”

It will be a quick turnaround for the Wildcats, who return to action in Durham, N.C. for the Rod Meyers Invitational tournament on Oct. 11 and 12.

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