Men’s Golf

History is on Northwestern’s side as it prepares to take on its conference rivals in the Big Ten Match Play Championship at Hammock Beach Resort in Florida this weekend.

The Wildcats have consistently shown themselves to be among the Big Ten’s elite in each of the eight years the event has kicked off the conference’s spring golf season, compiling a 21-4 record in the tournament over that stretch, including three-straight tournament titles from 2010 to 2012.

“Knowing that we’ve had that kind of success here in the past and seeing the precedent teams before us have set definitely bodes well for us this week,” senior Josh Jamieson said. “It just speaks to how well our coaches have this program prepared that we’re consistently one of the first team’s hitting our stride.”  

Ten of the Big Ten’s 14 teams will be at the event, which will likely serve as an early barometer for where each school stands in the conference hierarchy, and a strong finish could provide a spark for a young NU team as it heads into the early stretch of its schedule.    

The event’s match play format pits individual teams against each other in each round of the tournament, with individual players facing off in one-on-one matchups to determine who earns a victory. The top team from the east and west divisions will then play each other on Saturday afternoon to decide the tournament’s champion.

The Cats currently have matches scheduled against Michigan State, Nebraska and Purdue, with their final Saturday match currently to be determined.

“We know how good the Big Ten is so you know that no matches in this tournament are going to be easy,” Jamieson said. “I enjoy the fact that our first event is a match play event because it maybe allows you to be a little bit more relaxed, to get away with some bad shots, or to be aggressive in some spots that you normally might not be.”

NU will travel with seven players this week, six of whom will compete in each match. Jamieson and senior Andrew Whalen lead the way for the team, along with sophomore Sam Triplett, freshmen Pete Griffith, Luke Miller and Ryan Lumsden, and graduate transfer Harley Abrams.

Notably absent from the Cats lineup this week will be standout sophomore Dylan Wu, who established himself as one of the conference’s top players in a freshman season that saw him fall just short of an NCAA National Championship berth. Wu will be in California representing NU at the Northern Trust Open Collegiate Showcase.        

“Obviously Dylan is a great player, but I think this is the kind of team where we have other guys ready to step up,” Jamieson said.  “Certainly a win is something we feel like we’re capable of this week.”

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