Nov. 2, 2011

Golfstat.com Live Scoring

SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- Northwestern carded its best team tally of the tournament Wednesday during the final round of the 11-team Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle, finishing in 10th place overall. Senior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) recorded his third top-10 of the fall season with a seventh-place finish.

The Gifford Collegiate consists of six-person lineups and five scorers for each team -- the same format used by Gifford host UCLA at the Pac-12 Championships. Typical collegiate events feature five-person lineups with the top four scorers for each school counting toward the team total -- which would have resulted in a very strong day Wednesday for the Wildcats. Four NU golfers carded solid final round totals, but the remaining two 'Cats in the lineup had a rough day on the course to force an 8-over 79 to be included in the team total.

Northwestern was paired with Washington State in Wednesday's shotgun start, carding a 16-over 371 to give it a 62-over 1,127 (372-384-371) overall. NU was just one stroke behind ninth-place Coastal Carolina. The top-seven finishers in the Gifford all are ranked in the top-41 in the nation according to the latest Golfstat.com data, including No. 10 UCLA (second place), No. 2 Oregon (third), No. 3 Washington (fifth) and No. 5 Stanford (sixth).

Chun started the final round on the sixth hole and made quick birdies at Nos. 9 and 11 to get to 2-under par through six. Chun maintained a steady pace with par on his next seven holes before a bogey on No. 1. Having to finish his tournament on the 497-yard, uphill par-4 fifth hole, Chun made double bogey for the second day in a row to card a 1-over 72 and take seventh place at 1-over 214 (69-73-72).

Chun's top-10 finish was his third in Northwestern's five fall events. He previously was the runner-up at the season opening Marshall Invitational and at NU's own Windon Memorial Classic last month at Evanston Golf Club. In a star-studded tournament, Chun defeated the World Amateur Golf Ranking's No. 2 player (Stanford's Patrick Rodgers), No. 9 player (Washington's Chen-Tsung Pan), No. 16 player (Oregon's Daniel Miernicki) and No. 19 player (Stanford's Andrew Yun). Chun finished behind WAGR No. 1 Patrick Cantlay of UCLA and No. 5 Chris Williams of Washington. Chun entered this week ranked 164th in the world.

Sophomore Jack Perry (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) turned in a stellar final round after entering Wednesday at 10-over par for the tournament. Perry made bogey on the long and difficult par-4 fifth hole to start his day, but answered quickly with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8. After he gave a stroke back at No. 11, Perry made nine-straight pars and a birdie on the par-5 third hole to find himself in red numbers for the day before ending up at even-par 71 after a finishing bogey on No. 4. Perry took 30th place with a 54-hole total of 10-over 223 (77-75-71).

Sophomore John Callahan (Hinsdale, Ill./Benet Academy) shrugged off a tough start to fight back with birdies in the type of round head coach Pat Goss really enjoys. Though he made four bogeys in his first five holes and was 5-over par through 13, Callahan notched back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 before marking par on his final three holes for a 3-over 74. Callahan took 48th place individually in his first tournament as part of the NU team lineup with a 54-hole total of 14-over 227 (77-76-74).

Freshman Bennett Lavin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) fought back from three bogeys in his first seven holes to find himself even-par through 13 following birdies at Nos. 7, 10 and 15. His even par total lasted just one hole, however, when a quick bogey-double bogey misstep at Nos. 16 and 17 pushed him back to 3-over on the day. A late bogey on the second hole left him at 4-over 75 on the day and 19-over 232 (75-82-75) for the tournament, good for 62nd place.

Senior Sam Chien (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) followed a bogey on his first hole with a birdie on his third, but he carded no more red numbers the rest of the day. Chien's final round 8-over 79 gave him a 20-over 233 (74-80-79), placing him 64th overall in the field.

Freshman Matthew Negri (El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont) never got untracked for the Wildcats at the Gifford, carding a final round 10-over 81 to finish in 71st place at 30-over 243 (82-80-81).

Northwestern now is off until the beginning of the spring season, which NU will kick off Feb. 10-11, 2012, as the two-time defending champion of the Big Ten Match Play Championship.

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