By Liana B. Baker The Daily Northwestern
Northwestern can breathe a sigh of relief knowing it has a spot in the NCAA Central Regional championships. The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee announced the selections Monday, giving NU the 13th seed, ahead of Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Purdue.
Players said a bid was expected but the official word was still comforting news to a team coming off a disappointing 8th-place finish at the Big Ten championships.
"Even though I felt secure, there's always an anxious moment until you hear your name," coach Pat Goss said about the live conference call.
Before Goss shared the news with his team, he booked hotel rooms for the tournament. Not that NU will have to travel very far to compete. The regionals will be held May 17-19 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., a little more than an hour away from Evanston.
Freshman Jon Bowers said NU took advantage of being near the course and played a practice round on it Saturday, the last day before NCAA restrictions prohibit teams from practicing on the tournament course. He said it gave the team a chance to learn the nuances of the course. NU also played Rich Harvest Farms in the fall.
"It's a tricky golf course with some weird holes," Bowers said. "One of the tees had grown so far into the woods that you have to tee off on Astroturf."
For NU to advance to the championship finals at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., it will have to finish in the top 10 out of a field of 27. The Cats placed 2nd at last year's regionals.
"We have some unfinished business to take of at regionals," senior Chris Wilson said. "The seeds don't matter. You could be the one seed or the 20th seed, as long as you're in the event."
Goss agreed the seeds were irrelevant but said being in the top 15 puts NU in the same "wave" as the top teams.
The top 15 teams play in the afternoon on the first day and in the morning on the second day, he said.
"These are the teams you realistically most have to beat," Goss said. "So playing with them gives you the most fair chance of competing with them on an equal level."
For NU's two seniors, the regionals and the championships will be their last chances to compete at the college level. While their final tournaments will be bittersweet for the seniors, Wilson said it only revs up their drive to win.
"That's going to be a part of the motivation for (senior David Merkow) and I," Wilson said. "We want to go out with a bang and win on that final day of the NCAAs."
Wilson said this postseason berth wipes the slate clean in terms of past finishes. He said he looks at the golf season as being split up into two seasons, and the second part only starts with the regional tournament.
"Everybody has a 0-0 record," Wilson said. "Everything up to this point doesn't really matter and we're excited to go out there and start our new season."
Reach Liana B. Baker at liana-balinsky-baker@northwestern.edu.
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