By Liana B. Baker The Daily Northwestern
A good portion of the Northwestern golf team is going home this weekend to defend its Big Ten championship. But the team won't be hosting the event or playing anywhere close to Evanston.
The 88th Big Ten Men's Golf Championships will be held in Columbus, Ohio, the hometown of three out of the five players in NU's starting lineup. Freshman Jonathan Bowers, junior Kyle Moore and senior Chris Wilson all hail from Columbus and its suburbs.
"This is almost a home event," Bowers said. "For us, this is about as close as you can get to home, other than playing at Northwestern."
Bowers said he lives five blocks down the road from the Scarlet Course, the site of the event. The 72-hole tournament will be played from Friday to Sunday and is the longest tourney NU has played all season.
But one Ohioan almost did not make the trip home. Moore experienced neck pains during practice last week but kept playing until a "huge pain" after a swing forced him off the course. He said he was diagnosed with a protruding disk in his neck.
"I was sitting in my bed in so much pain and I just thought 'Oh man, am I really not going to be able to play?' I did a lot of praying," Moore said.
After days of sessions with his trainer involving stretches, suction cups and heat packets, Moore was cleared to play in the tournament. He said the scare has made him more excited and grateful to play the championship in his hometown.
Coach Pat Goss said playing in Columbus will give Bowers, Moore and Wilson a chance to show the locals why they chose to play for NU even though they were recruited "heavily" by Ohio State, the school hosting the tournament.
"They want to validate that decision in front of people who can't believe anyone wouldn't choose to go to Ohio State," Goss said.
But Wilson disagreed with his coach, saying he doesn't feel a need to validate his decision to anyone in Columbus.
"I don't think I have to explain to anyone or apologize to anyone (for) why I chose Northwestern over Ohio State," Wilson said. "Winning the tournament would cap off the season for us and we don't have to prove it to anyone but ourselves."
Wilson knows plenty about winning at the Big Ten tournament. Last year he placed first individually, the first NU player to win since current PGA Tour pro Luke Donald in 2001. He said he does not feel any pressure as the defending champion and leaves the pressure up to golfers that have performed well this spring from other schools.
"I think the fact I underachieved and played poorly this spring takes some pressure off of me," Wilson said.
Last year, NU received an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Regional championship for winning the Big Ten tournament. Goss said NU would receive a bid this year even if it doesn't win for a second time.
Goss said the teams that stand in NU's way this weekend are Michigan State and Minnesota, which are both seeded in front of NU. He said Michigan is the favorite on paper, since it hasn't lost to a Big Ten school this season. Minnesota is "streaky," Goss said, and can beat a top-ten team but then struggle the following week.
"Untapped" is the word Goss used to describe NU this season. He said his team is talented but has been plagued by bad timing.
"Hopefully we'll have four or five guys play well at the same time this weekend," Goss said. "It's a quintessential championship, what our season is the most dependent on."
Moore sounded confident about the challenge and said a win in his hometown was within NU's reach.
"All we have to do is show up and do what we do, and come home with another Big Ten title," he said. "By home, I mean Chicago."
Reach Liana B. Baker at l-balinsky-baker@northwestern.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!