Men’s Golf

While the weather was not good at the Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana, Northwestern’s play on the links was good.

The Wildcats tied with Kent State for first place after two rounds of play at the 17-team Boilermaker Invitational. After Sunday’s third round was canceled due to weather, NU and the Golden Flashes were named co-champions.

It was the third tournament victory for the Cats this season after first-place finishes at the Windon Memorial Classic and UNCG/Grandover Collegiate in the fall.

“It’s brilliant to get the team win,” junior Ryan Lumsden said. “That’s our main goal at this point in the season. We wanted to see the team coming together and playing well. We really did play a very solid couple rounds of golf yesterday in some pretty tough, challenging conditions.”

Lumsden led the Cats with a two-under over the two rounds, putting him in a tie for fifth place. Right behind the England native was sophomore Everton Hawkins at one-under, tying him for seventh, and senior Dylan Wu at one-over, tying him for 12th.

NU led after the first round of play with a collective score of 284, one stroke ahead of Kent State and Cincinnati.

The weather grew worse as the day went on, and the Cats’ scores did as well. They finished with a 295 in the second round, tied for eighth. On the back nine of the round, NU went 11-over. In the first round, the Cats had scored a three-under on the back nine.

“The weather was difficult towards the end of the round yesterday and we were off to a hot start,” coach David Inglis said. “At one point, we actually got it to 10-under, and then as the conditions worsened, everybody was making bogeys. But I felt like we were a little slack and gave up too many cheap shots.”

The only NU golfer who had a better score in the weather-plagued second round was Lumsden. The junior shot two-under in the second round after shooting even par in the first round.

Hawkins said that when the weather changes, he has to adjust his approach and be more accepting of pars.

“You just have to adjust with the weather,” Hawkins said. “You have to understand that you are not going to hit great shots all the time, especially in the high winds in the second round. You have to stay patient.”

The Cats led the field in Par 3 scoring, finishing the tournament at four-over. Junior Pete Griffith and Lumsden both finished even on Par 3s while freshman Eric McIntosh, who competed as an individual, went two-under on Par 3s.

“The Par 3s at Purdue in particular are very difficult,” Inglis said. “They typically have one side that’s out of play with a water hazard. You have to control your ball. You have to be able to hit it on a certain side of the hole.”

NU finished tied for second in total birdies with 32 and fourth in Par 5 scoring at five-under. Five of the six Cats golfers — Hawkins, Lumsden, McIntosh, senior Sam Triplett and Wu — finished with scores lower than the average tournament score of 149.83.

Lumsden said when the weather is bad, NU is a really tough team to beat due to its experience in dealing with harsh conditions practicing in the Chicago area.

“This is the weather we practice in,” Lumsden said. “This is what we play in. This is the weather we feel like we are better than anyone else in.”

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