Oct. 24, 2006

Final Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge Results
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BANDON, Ore. -- Northwestern shot one of Tuesday's best team rounds and climbed two spots to finish fourth at this year's Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge, which was held at Pacific Dunes, one of the nation's top golf courses.

UCLA, which led after the first two rounds, held off Pac-10 rival USC and finished with a five-stroke victory.

The Wildcats were led Tuesday by senior David Merkow (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead Union), last year's Big Ten/Pac-10 individual champ. He fired an even-par 71 to finish in an 11th-place tie (73-81-71=225) with classmate Chris Wilson (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman). Wilson carded a 12-over 225 (73-78-74).

Freshman Jonathan Bowers (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) notched his third top-10 finish of his young career, placing fourth with a 9-over 222 (74-73-75).

USC's Jamie Lovemark fired a 4-under 67 (three strokes off the course record held by PGA golfer Scott Simpson) and won the event by a comfortable eight strokes.

Junior Kyle Moore (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) finished 25th (80-76-72=228) after firing a 1-over 72 on Tuesday. Dan Doyle (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) placed 45th with a 21-over 234.

A light rain in the morning gave way to calm and sunny conditions on the back nine as the 6,633-yard, par-71 course yielded four sub-par scores -- double the average of the first two rounds.

In the conference challenge portion of the tournament, the Pac-10 defeated the Big Ten by 29 strokes, 4,488-4,517. The Pac-10 now leads the series 2-1, with both wins coming at the Bandon courses.

The Wildcats close out the fall at the CordeValle Collegiate on Nov. 6-7.