With the first three tournaments of the fall season in the books, it’s already safe to say sophomore Ethan Tseng has officially broken out.
After being left off Northwestern’s five-man starting lineup for the majority of last season, Tseng has cemented himself as one of the Wildcats’ key contributors with a top-20 and top-5 performance to start out this fall.
But the second-year player took a major step forward in the Fighting Irish Classic this Monday, earning medalist honors and tying the 18-hole program record with a third-round score of 62.
Tseng and fellow sophomore Daniel Svärd led NU to a second place tie out of the 14-squad field. The ‘Cats finished at 3-under, tying with Indiana and trailing seven strokes behind Tennessee.
The tournament started out rough for NU. With Svärd being the only ‘Cat to hit below par (–3) in the first round, the team fell to eight place out of the gate at 3-over.
The subsequent round saw NU climb up the leaderboard largely due to the play of Tseng and Svärd, who tallied a 2-under 68 and 1-under 69, respectively.
Entering the final round, NU stood just one stroke behind second place Tennessee with Svärd tied for first individually and Tseng not far behind in 10th. The rest of the ‘Cats’ lineup — junior Cameron Adam, graduate student James Imai and freshman Archie Finnie — sat tied for 27th.
Remarkably, Tseng put up an all-time performance in the third round, tallying six birdies and an eagle to finish the round with an 8-under-62.
No player came close to matching Tseng’s play as he fought his way up to first place. Svärd also impressed with a fourth place finish at 4-under.
NU’s second place team result marked a season-high after placing fifth and sixth at its previous two tournaments.
The ‘Cats will be back in action at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational on October 13.
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