Northwestern’s golf programs competed coast to coast this week, with the women heading west and the men heading east. The women had a strong outing at the Stanford Intercollegiate, finishing fourth, ahead of five ranked programs, while the men opened strong before falling to 10th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational. Here’s what you need to know:
Women’s golf: Wildcats hold strong in fourth at Stanford
Northwestern women’s golf competed in a 17-team field this weekend from Oct. 16-18 at the Stanford Golf Course, finishing fourth at 10 over.
Home field advantage favored No. 12 Stanford, as the Cardinals ran away with the title at 28 under. No. 4 Virginia finished second at 9 under par, while No. 2 USC finished third at 7 under. Stanford junior Meja Örtengren won the individual championship at 14 under.
The ‘Cats opened the tournament going 287 (+3), which left them tied for fifth after Round 1. They improved in Round 2 with a 286 (+2) to move to fourth, then held on with a 289 (+5) in Round 3. That finish was good enough to put the No. 35-ranked Wildcats ahead of several highly ranked teams, including No. 8 UCLA, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 24 Kansas, No. 28 Pepperdine, and No. 42 SMU.
First-year Rebecca Wang led the way for Northwestern, turning her T-28 finish at the Windy City Classic into a T-9 finish at Stanford, going 4 under with rounds of 71, 67 and 71. Her 67 in the second round was a tournament low, powered by a 31 on the front nine. Wang’s 12 birdies tied for seventh on the tournament, fueled by her excellence on par 5s, as she tied for the tournament lead on those holes at 9-under.
Junior Emilie Knai also bounced back from her T-56 finish at the Windy City Classic, tying for 13th with a 1-under finish (68-73-71). Knai eagled on the par-5 12th hole in the final round and finished third on par 5s for the tournament at 8 under. Senior Ashley Yun continued her success from her last outing in Glencoe, Illinois, where she finished T-14 at 1 over (71-71-72). She also finished 1 under on par 4s, good for sixth in the field.
First-year Ann-Sophie Bourgault finished T-72 (+15) and junior Hsin Tai Lin finished T-81 (+17). Junior Megan Meng, traveling with the team as an individual, tied for 59th (+12).
Men’s golf: Zhou leads the way as Wildcats fade in Alpharetta
The men traveled east this weekend, competing in a 14-team field at The Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course, and finished tied for 10th at 4 under. Home field advantage played a role in this tournament as well, with host Georgia Tech winning at 16 under and Georgia Southern and USC finishing second and third at 15 under and 14 under, respectively. Second-year Carson Looney of Duke earned the individual honors, finishing 10 under.
The ‘Cats got off to a very strong start in Round 1, opening with a 278 (-10) that had them at third to begin. But the course got no kinder after day one, with Northwestern finishing with a 292 (+4) in Round 2 and a 298 (+10) in Round 3. The course wasn’t very kind to the field either, as averages jumped to 72.09 in Round 2 and 73.65 in Round 3.
First-year Kuan Zhou led the Wildcats, tying for 21st at 1 over (68-74-75). The finish marks Zhou’s third top-25 finish, which leads the program. He opened with a 68 (-4), tied for his best relative-to-par finish, holing four birdies on the back nine. Zhou tied for 11th on par 5s, going 5 under over all three days.
Redshirt junior Rowan Sullivan improved upon his T-40 finish at the Windon Memorial Classic, finishing just one stroke behind Zhou and tying for 72nd with rounds of 70, 73 and 75. He made seven birdies in Round 1, including four in his first five holes.
First-year Carter Gaede started out well, tying for 10th after rounds of 69 and 71 in the first two days. But his final round proved costly: he finished with 80 strokes, including a double-bogey on the par-4 10th hole, which dropped him 36 spots to T-46 (+4).
Sophomore Monty Holcombe improved on his T-64 finish at Windon to T-53 (+5) with rounds of 71, 76 and 74. Senior Jeremy Chen was consistent despite not getting as low a stroke count as he’d have liked, shooting a 74 in all three rounds to finish T-56 (+6). Chen’s 38 pars tied for second in the field.
Up next for the two programs, the men close the fall schedule with a trip to compete in the Preserve Golf Club Collegiate in Carmel Valley, California, from Oct. 26-27. The women enter their fall break, with their next trip being their annual practice trip over MLK Day weekend from Jan. 16-18 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
