Northwestern men’s golf wrapped up its fall slate this week with a T-8 finish in an 11-team field at The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate in Carmel Valley, California, a two-day event taking place on Monday and Tuesday. The ‘Cats finished 1 under (863), tying with Duke and Little Rock.
Rounds 1 and 2 were played Monday, but the latter groups in Round 2 were pushed to Tuesday morning due to lack of sunlight late Monday night. Round 3 resumed after the groups finished their remaining holes.
Oregon defeated defending champion and No. 33 BYU on the final day, turning the Cougars’ four-stroke lead into a win for the Ducks with a final round of 282 (-6) to 23 under. BYU closed on Tuesday with 291 (+3) in Round 3 to finish second at 21 under. Saint Mary’s, San Diego and No. 21 Santa Clara each tied for third at 14 under. Saint Mary’s Sam Baumuller led from the start with initial rounds of 65 and 66 on Monday and closed with a 71 to win his first collegiate title at 14 under (202).
It reversed the Wildcats’ last outing in Georgia, where Northwestern started strong before fading. This time around, the ‘Cats began with a tournament low of 290 (+2) in Round 1 that left them at 10th, before rebounding with a tournament best later that day with 284 (-4) to tie for ninth. The final round on Tuesday was the toughest for the course, with the field averaging 74.22 on the par 72 course, but Northwestern held firm with a 289 (+1). That tied the Wildcats with Duke for the fourth-best score of Round 3, only trailing the winners in Oregon, San Diego and Santa Clara and moved the ‘Cats up one spot on the leaderboard.
Sophomore Monty Holcombe led the Wildcats, tying for 23rd at 1 under (71-74-70), up from his T-53 finish in Georgia. His final-round stroke count of 70 was the team’s best individual performance in the final round, with birdies on the eighth, ninth and 18th holes that pushed him up 18 spots on the final day.
Senior Jeremy Chen matched Holcombe’s bounceback, going from a T-56 finish in Georgia to a T-27 finish with an even (74-68-74). He shot a 68 (- 4) in Round 2 of 68 (-4), Northwestern’s lowest individual round, powered by five birdies, including back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes.
Redshirt junior Rowan Sullivan finished 1-over (75-69-73), tying him for 31st. He tied for the best in the field on par 5s, finishing 9 under on those holes. Senior Archie Finnie, competing as an individual, also tied with Sullivan at 31st with rounds of 72, 73 and 72.
First-year Kuan Zhou tied for 39th at 3 over, improving each day with rounds of 74, 73 and 72. First-year Carter Gaede opened with a 71, tied for the team’s best first round, but an 82 in Round 3 dropped him down to 63rd (+11). First-year Carter Möller, also competing individually, finished 66th at +18.
Team stats showed exactly where the Wildcats lost strokes. Northwestern was 15 and 18 over on par 3s and par 4s, respectively, tying for ninth in both, while its nine double bogeys or worse were the second-most by any team in the field.
The men get a long winter break and return to competition with a head-to-head matchup against Michigan State for the fourth annual Gantner Cup on Jan. 30 in Mountain Lake, Florida.
