Men’s Golf

Northwestern stumbled to a 13th-place finish last weekend at Big Ten Championships, but freshman David Nyfjäll was the Wildcats’ lone bright spot.

On Tuesday, the Sweden native was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Nyfjäll paced NU at Big Ten Championships in Philadelphia, finishing 11th out of 70 overall competitors. No other Cats golfer finished higher than 42nd.

That performance capped an impressive rookie campaign for Nyfjäll. He announced his presence on the collegiate scene by winning back-to-back tournaments in October. First, he took home the title at the Chatham Hills Collegiate in Westfield, Indiana. Then, two weeks later, he topped the field at UNCG/Grandover Collegiate in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Both of those wins led to him being named Big Ten Men’s Golfer of the Week.

Nyfjäll added two more top-10 finishes later in the season, taking eighth place at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in Scottsdale, Arizona in March, then finishing tied for third at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Indiana in mid-April.

At Big Ten Championships, Nyfjäll finished strong, shooting an even-par 70 in the final round to move up eight places in the leaderboard. His 71.79 stroke average was the lowest on the team.

Nyfjäll was also named to the All-Conference first team, in addition earning to Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. He became the fifth NU golfer to win the award, and the first since Eric Chun in 2009.

Correction: A previous version of this story included a photo that did not feature David Nyfjäll. It has since been updated. The Daily regrets the error.

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