By Liana B. Baker The Daily Northwestern
The conditions on the course were perfect on Monday and Tuesday in sunny Arizona, but they weren't enough to lift Northwestern to a top-10 finish at the National Invitational Tournament.
Northwestern settled for 11th place in the 15-team field, 38 strokes behind the winner, Arizona State. NU did manage to beat Pepperdine, Kent State and Arizona's "B" squad.
Senior Chris Wilson wasn't sure why his team wasn't doing better than last year's squad when it clearly has the talent.
"This year's team has more potential than last year's team," Wilson said. "With the four returning players (Wilson, David Merkow, Kyle Moore, Dan Doyle) and Jon Bowers showing a lot of promise, we should be doing better."
While Wilson was disappointed with his team's peformance at the NIT, he said his own game made some progress. The senior tied for 16th place to lead the Cats. Wilson said a double bogey on the 18th hole during the last round thwarted a top-10 finish.
Wilson had birdied the par-4, 18th hole in both previous rounds, but on the final day he hit into a hazard off a drive where his ball got caught up in the wind. After dropping a new ball, Wilson hit a three wood into the fairway and then knocked a 9-iron 20 feet left of the pin.
Wilson said he made a good putt which would have made a "nice" bogey but his ball lipped out of the hole forcing him to settle for a two-putt.
Freshman Jonathan Bowers also double bogeyed the 18th during the final round, but unlike his teammate, he didn't hit into the hazard.
Bowers said he escaped the dogleg right and two lakes on the 18th and actually hit the green in regulation. But then he experienced a meltdown in his short game and four-putted. Bowers said his 74th place finish was humbling.
"I played really poorly, almost DFL - dead freaking last."
Wilson, though, was pleased with his short game during the tournament. He said his putts helped him keep his momentum going and save par on many holes. So far, he has no plans to change the Odyssey putter he's been using for the past two years.
Both Wilson and Bowers sounded confident that NU was done with losing.
"It's not going to be hard to move on," Bowers said. "That's what we're good at and I'm excited to start playing in awful weather again because that's where we're really good."
Bowers said he practiced Wednesday in the snow to get ready for the forecasted 30 degree weather in Indiana for the weekend.
Only assistant coach Steve Bailey was around to see NU finish on Tuesday. According to NU golfers, coach Pat Goss left the NIT early to go to Georgia to help prepare Luke Donald for the Masters. NU will only be able to catch the highlights of the Masters because they will be playing Saturday and Sunday at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.
Reach Liana B. Baker at liana.b.baker@gmail.com
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