After slumping to a ninth place finish at the Windon Memorial Classic, Northwestern has had less than a week before beginning a new tournament.

With the Wildcats traveling north to the Erin Hills Golf Course — host of the 2017 U.S. Open — in Wisconsin to compete at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate starting Sunday, junior Everton Hawkins is having feelings of deja vu.

“This start is a little similar to last season’s,” Hawkins said. “Our first few events last year, we played pretty bad and didn’t have good results and we finished the season playing really well and were top-15 in the country. We are really not worried about how we will be in the future, just trying to be a lot better in the present.”

Last fall, NU travelled to Erin Hills to participate in the Marquette Intercollegiate after a disappointing opening tournament. The team continued to struggle as they finished in tenth place. However, after the Erin Hills tournament, the Cats won their next two events.

Erin Hills is known for being a long course — it is the longest course ever played in the history of the U.S. Open and at any major championship. At last year’s event, there were five holes over 500 yards, including a 675-yard 18th hole.

Another distinguishable characteristic of the course is its greens. Senior Ryan Lumsden said NU’s work around the pin will be a key in Wisconsin.

“The greens are enormous at Erin Hills so lag putting will be important,” Lumsden said.

Lumsden is coming off a top-five finish at Windon, continuing a September stretch that has seen him compete at the World Amateur Team Championships, where he finished tied for 24th in a field of 215 golfers.

Lumsden — who was named Big Ten Men’s Golfer of the Week after his finish at the Windon — also competed at the U.S. Open and at the European Tour’s Nordea Masters this summer. He said his summer was a “great learning lesson.”

“I played with some players who have done some really impressive things,” Lumsden said. “I was just trying to suck up as much information as a I could. I need to go in with a slightly different attitude.”

With such a short turnaround before heading to Wisconsin, the team has only three practices scheduled between its first two tournaments. Inglis said the team has not had many practices to start this season so he is hoping that these three can be very helpful in sharpening up the team.

Although the team has not had many days to practice, the Cats did go on a preseason trip to London. The excursion across the pond featured afternoon sightseeing and a trip to Wembley Stadium to watch England and Spain play a UEFA Nations League match.

However, Inglis said the team spent most of the time on the links because “It was a golf trip. That’s what a golf team does. We play golf.”

The Cats will be playing a lot of golf over the next month. Following Erin Hills, NU will compete in two more tournaments this fall. While Inglis said he never has any expectations about placement when it comes to his players, he does have high hopes about their effort.

“I’m never really going to talk about the result or the outcome,” Inglis said. “It’s much more about the performance. I expect these guys to perform at the highest level.”

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