Sept. 12, 2011

Marshall Invitational 36 Hole Results

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Northwestern put together a pair of under-par team totals in the first two rounds Monday of the 42nd Marshall Invitational at Guyan Golf and Country Club, finding itself in second place entering Tuesday's final round.

"Today was a great day for scoring," head coach Pat Goss said. "The course was soft and in great shape with very little wind."

Northwestern found itself in second place, one shot behind the leaders after the morning round. The Wildcats carded a 6-under 278 while VCU had a 277. Ohio State (279) and Richmond (280) rounded out a tightly bunched top-four heading into the afternoon round. In the second 18 holes, NU shot a 5-under 279 to place it second overall in the field entering Tuesday's final round at 11-under 557 (278-279). The Wildcats are two shots behind VCU.

NU was buoyed by senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) going low in both rounds coupled with a first-round 69 from a freshman Wildcat and an identical second-round 69 from a different freshman 'Cat in the lineup.

Chun got off to a flying start on the front nine Monday, using his new Adam Scott-style long putter to drain birdie putts on Nos. 5 and 6. On the par-5 eighth hole, Chun made two great shots before just missing an eagle opportunity and tapping in for his third birdie in a four-hole span. He finished the morning at 4-under 67. In the afternoon, Chun again found low numbers with a 3-under 68, placing him second overall in the field as an individual with a 36-hole total of 7-under 135 (67-68). He is three shots behind the leader.

Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) battled to a 1-over 72 in the morning round after getting to 3-over par at one point. He did much better in his second-collegiate round, notching a 2-under 69 in the afternoon. In round two, Lavin made birdie at No. 9 to get to 1-under par before entering his final hole of the day -- the difficult uphill par-4 second -- at 2-under. He striped a drive and hit a beautiful second to within 12 feet before just burning the edge and making par to finish day one in 20th place at 1-under 141 (72-69).

Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) made birdie at No. 9 to close out his opening nine Monday, controlling his spin into the wind to keep the ball on the back tier of a sloped green. He followed that up with a tap-in birdie at No. 10 after backing his second shot up 10 feet to the cup -- much to the delight of the gallery watching his group. He went on to fire an even-par 71.

In the second round, Perry copied Chun's front-nine birdie stretch from the first, putting circles on his card at Nos. 5, 6 and 8. He made an error, however, on No. 11 when he failed to mark his ball before picking it up, resulting in a penalty stroke and a bogey. He would end up with even-par 71 in the afternoon as well for a 36-hole total of even-par 142 (71-71), good for 24th position.

Senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) found himself at 3-over par during the first round, but fought all the way back to card an even-par 71. He matched that effort with an identical score in the second round to enter Tuesday's action knotted with Perry in 24th place at even-par 142 (71-71).

Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) had a stellar debut Monday morning, carding a 2-under 69 to break 70 in his first collegiate round. A slow start to his second 18 holes after a pair of short-game bogeys from tough lies just off the green sent him to an afternoon 4-over 75 and a 36-hole total of 2-over 144 (69-75), placing him 37th in the field as an individual.

Northwestern returns to action at 7 a.m. CT tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 13, in the final round of the 42nd Marshall Invitational. Live tweets from the course courtesy of Goss can be found @NUGolf_Live.

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