Northwestern picked up two wins this past weekend in the Big Ten Match Play Championship, but it was hardly what the team came to Florida to do, as it finished at a disappointing fifth place.

Going into the tournament ranked No. 28 in the country, NU was seeded No. 2 in the tournament held at the Hammock Beach Resort Ocean Course in Palm Coast, Fla. It had a first-round bye on Friday morning, awaiting the winner of the matchup between No. 7 Iowa and No. 10 Minnesota. 1 p.m. rolled around, and NU faced Iowa in the quarterfinals.

Senior David Nyfjäll and junior James Imai secured victories in their matches, but the Hawkeyes bested the Cats 3-2, knocking NU out of the championship bracket.

Last year, NU came into the same event as the No. 1 seed, but it was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Penn State 3-2.

Consolation was the word, as into that bracket, the Cats went looking to salvage some pride out of a consecutive second-round exit. 

They found consolation — and maybe even a little revenge — as NU beat Penn State 3-2 on Saturday morning. The team’s scoring average leader, graduate student Varun Chopra, secured a 6 and 4 victory against his opponent, Nyfjäll won 4 and 3, and graduate student Eric McIntosh beat his Penn State counterpart 3 and 1. Overall, these three matches helped flip last year’s script, and NU beat Penn State 3-2.

Rounding out the afternoon and the tournament, the Cats faced No. 6 Wisconsin. With victories from Chopra (3 and 1), McIntosh (2 up), and first-year Cameron Adam (6 and 5), NU beat the Badgers by a decisive 3-1-1 margin, securing a fifth-place finish.

The disappointing finish hampers the team’s momentum from the fall season, as it had finished second and first in their two most recent events. Nevertheless, with two Big Ten victories and good showings from their veterans, the event provided some positives.

Overall, Chopra and Nyfjäll both finished undefeated, going 2-0 in their matches over the weekend, and McIntosh went 2-1. With solid victories from Imai and Adam, the Cats have The Prestige to look forward to, especially as a stroke-play event.

The Big Ten Match Play tournament was the only match play event on NU’s schedule last year, which favors this stroke play-oriented team (counting individual scores as opposed to playing against other players/teams directly). The Cats finished third in the Big Ten Championships with four players placing in the top 25 last year.

The Prestige tournament is held in La Quinta, Calif., and, assuredly, the Wildcats are counting the days and strokes until then. Both Chopra and Nyfjäll averaged 70.27 and 70.92, respectively, during the fall season, so these two should be able to put this tournament behind them and look forward to the next stretch of spring golf. 

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