Feb. 12, 2011

Big Ten Match Play Championship Results

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Northwestern and Indiana traded punches all afternoon long in the title tilt of the 2011 Big Ten Match Play Championship at PGA National, but in the end the Wildcats were able to successfully negotiate the Champion Course's famed "Bear Trap" to capture their second-straight crown at the tournament, 4-2.

Northwestern now is 10-1 all-time in the three-year history of the Big Ten Match Play Championship. The Wildcats fell in the quarterfinal round in 2009 but won their final two battles to take fifth place. In 2010, then-No. 6 seed Northwestern went a perfect 4-0, taking out both the second- and third-seeded teams en route to the title. NU now has won each of its last nine matches in the tournament.

Junior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) was one of four Wildcats to win his match Saturday afternoon, moving his career record at the tourney to an incredible undefeated 10-0-1.

The win was the 26th team tournament title for Northwestern under 14th-year head coach Pat Goss.

Blow-by-blow recaps of all six matches are as follows:

No. 6: Jack Perry (NU) def. Kyle Perry (IND), 3 and 1
Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) came out in this match absolutely guns ablaze, making birdies on the first, third and fifth holes despite blustery winds to take a quick 3-up lead over his fellow Perry, who, to his credit, played even-par golf over that same stretch. Kyle Perry's sixth-straight par on No. 6 was good enough to recover one hole when Jack Perry came back to Earth a bit with a bogey, but Kyle followed that up with his first bogey of the match to give it right back and contribute to a 2-up Jack Perry lead at the turn.

"Jack looked very comfortable on the front side," Goss said. "He hit some great, controlled shots in the wind."

Jack drained a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 10 to halve the hole, then won Nos. 11, 12 and 13 with pars to go dormie at No. 14. Kyle Perry made things interesting, winning the next three holes before Jack closed the proceedings with a par on No. 17 to win the hole and capture the match, 3 and 1.

No. 5: Corey Ziedonis (IND) def. Josh Dupont (NU), 1-Up
Josh Dupont (Poway, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) made bogey on his first two holes of the title round to quickly fall to 2-down, but recovered with a birdie on the par-5 third to cut that deficit in half. IU's Corey Ziedonis and Dupont traded birdie wins on the two front side par-3s before Dupont bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9 gave the Hoosier a 3-up lead at the turn.

Dupont made a big eagle on the 545-yard par 5 10th and then won the 11th with a par to get back to 1-down, but a bogey at No. 12 again put him in a 2-down hole. Dupont recovered again with a birdie at No. 14 to enter the Bear Trap three-hole stretch 1-down.

On the par-3 15th, Dupont bounced his tee shot off the rocks and onto the green for a fortuitous birdie, winning the hole and bringing the match to all square after Ziedonis dumped a pair of balls in the water. The players matched pars on No. 16 before Dupont found a bunker on the par-3 17th. He hit a beautiful shot out of the sand to four feet, but missed the putt to give Ziedonis the edge heading into the final hole, which the players halved with par to even the team match, 1-1, on Ziedonis' 1-up victory.

No. 4: Nick Losole (NU) def. Brant Peaper (IND), 2-Up
Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) fell two holes down through three before IU's Brant Peaper got in trouble on the short par-5 sixth and made bogey, cutting Losole's disadvantage to a single hole.

For the next eight holes, Losole carded a score of four regardless of the par of the hole. When that stretch ended, Losole still found himself 1-down entering the entrance to the Bear Trap at No. 15. As it had in Dupont's match, the par-3 15th spelled disaster for Indiana, contributing to a double-bogey for Peaper against Losole's par to bring the match all square for the first time all afternoon.

After exchanging pars on the 16th, Losole pulled into the lead with a birdie on No. 17 to give Northwestern the late edge in a match it had trailed literally the entire afternoon. Losole closed the match with a birdie on 18 for good measure to earn the 2-Up win and put NU back on top in the team race, 2-1.

No. 3: David Mills (IND) def. Brad Shigezawa (NU), 1-Up
Indiana's David Mills took the early advantage over Brad Shigezawa (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou Academy) in this match with a birdie on the par-5 third before extending the edge to 2-up with a birdie at No. 6. The pairing played very even through the middle portions of the match, but the first hole of the Bear Trap reared up and bit Shigezawa to make Mills dormie on No. 16.

A pair of Mills bogies on Nos. 16 and 17 gave Shigezawa life on the par-5 18th, but the two players each made par on the final hole to hand Mills a 1-Up win.

No. 2: Eric Chun (NU) def. Chase Wright (IND), 3 and 1
IU's Chase Wright paired a birdie-bogey start against Eric Chun's (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) steady par train at the beginning of the No. 2 match Saturday afternoon, contributing to an all-square start until again Chun immediately answered a Wright win on No. 6 with one of his own on No. 7.

Chun asserted his control over the match as the back nine began, making birdie at the par-5 10th and a winning par on the 11th to take a 2-up lead, but Wright immediately counterpunched with a birdie on No. 12 to make it a 1-up match.

As it had all day, No. 15 was kind to the 'Cats and not so much to the Hoosiers. Chun drained a birdie putt and Wright made bogey to put the NU junior 2-up and eventually dormie on the 17th tee. Chun made par at the exit hole of the Bear Trap and Wright carded a bogey to give Chun a 3 and 1 win and an undefeated 10-0-1 record in the three-year history of the Big Ten Match Play Championship.

No. 1: David Lipsky (NU) def. David Erdy (IND), 2-Up
After playing from behind in the entirety of his morning semifinal match, Lipsky jumped on top of Indiana's David Erdy quickly in the championship round. Lipsky birdied the first, fourth and fifth holes to quickly build a 3-up lead in the match despite Erdy not making any mistakes in the early going.

Lipsky eventually extended his advantage to 5-up after eight holes, but back-to-back wins for Erdy on Nos. 11 and 12 sliced that number to 3-up. Indiana finally got the best of No. 15 in this match, with Erdy making birdie and Lipsky finding trouble for a double bogey. Erdy continued to chip away at Lipsky's early lead, making birdie on No. 17 to take Lipsky the distance, but the NU senior birdied the final hole to complete a 2-up victory and make the final margin in the team race 4-2 in favor of the 'Cats.

••••••

Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!