Men’s Golf

Ryan Lumsden had a breakout performance to lead Northwestern to a signature win at the Marquette Invitational.

The Wildcats finished the 10-team tournament 4-under to beat second-place Mississippi by five strokes. The star of the show was Lumsden, who shot a 1-under 69 in each of the three rounds to finish in a tie for first at 3-under with Southern Methodist’s Gray Townsend.

“It was really, really fun to see the team play so well this weekend,” Lumsden said. “It was the first time we really had all our games synced up and playing well together.”

Although Lumsden was seeded second behind the team’s usual leader, junior Dylan Wu, it was the sophomore from London who paced NU in its first team tournament victory since 2013.

Lumsden’s win may have been a surprise to some, but not to coach David Inglis.

“I’m delighted for Ryan to get his first win, and I would say the signs for him have been good. It looked like this kind of performance was coming,” Inglis said. “He’s really improved from his freshman year to now. In particular his short game and his putting have come on so much.”

As a team, the Cats led the tournament throughout. They shot 3-over in the first round and improved on their score in each of the subsequent rounds.

Wu and senior Andrew Whalen both contributed top 10 finishes, carding scores of even and 1-over, respectively, which tied Wu for seventh and Whalen for 10th. Junior Sam Triplett was the final player to contribute to NU’s total score, shooting 2-under on the final day to finish 2-over on the tournament.

Lumsden, Wu and Inglis all said the most important effect of the win would be on the team’s confidence going forward.

“We’ve been close the past couple years, but the coaches have been telling us we’re a really good team that’s capable of winning tournaments,” Wu said. “This gives us the confidence to know we can win against really good teams if we play well.”

Inglis also said the team’s performance has steadily improved through the team’s first three tournaments of the season, as they went from finishing tied for 11th two weeks ago to 4th place last week. The Cats’ last two tournaments had weaker fields than the first, although the Marquette Invitational featured quality teams such as UCLA and Mississippi.

As the tournament came down to the wire, both players and coach had to deal with the pressure of attempting to accomplish what no NU team had done in three years. On the last three holes of the tournament, the three most difficult holes of the week, the top four Cats shot a combined one-under to close out the victory.

“It’s great,” Inglis said. “There’s no other feeling like winning.”

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