April 18, 2010

Final Results

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Northern Illinois men's golf team matched their first round 298 to finish eighth at the Hawkeye - TaylorMade/adidas Invitational in Sunday's final 18 holes.

The Huskies (298 (+10) | 305 (+17) | 298 (+10) | 901 (+37)) finished two strokes behind seventh-place South Dakota State, and 12 ahead of ninth-place Western Kentucky. Host Iowa won the 10-team tournament with an 863 (-1) at Finkbine Golf Course.

"It was a perfect day for golf," said NIU head coach Tom Porten. "We came out with a few bogeys to start and never could really get it going though."

Jeff Dick finished as NIU's top performer for the third straight event, shooting a final round 73 (+1), while Missouri-Kansas City's Alex Hogben took the individual crown (209 | -7). Dick (74 | 74 | 73 | 221 (+5)) also took his fourth top-20 finish of the spring, a tie for 15th. Matt Triplett (75 | 74 | 75 | 224 (+8)) posted his best finish of the spring, a tie for 24th. Griffin Bauman (74 | 78 | 75 | 227 (+11)) shot one of three final round scores of 75 for NIU, and finished in a tie for 35th. Greg Pohlmann (75 | 79 | 75 | 229 (+13)) registered his lowest tournament to par of the spring, and placed in a tie for 41st. Bryce Emory (82 | 82 | 76 | 240 (+24)) bounced back Sunday to best his Saturday scores by six strokes, good for 57th place at the par 72 course.

"I was pleased overall with the way Matt Triplett played," said Porten. "This was his best tourney of the spring.

"Jeff continues to be consistent, but we needed some more help today and didn't get it. We are going to work real hard in practice this week on the putters. The greens were fast but we didn't make enough birdies today."

Additionally, independent Huskie competitor Paul Hammerschmidt gave the Huskies their third top 25 finish, tying for 24th (76 | 75 | 73 | 224 (+8)).

"I was really pleased with how well Paul played as an individual," Porten said. "His last two rounds were solid, which was good to see."

The Huskies return to competition Saturday, April 24 when they visit West Lafayette, Ind. to play in the Purdue Invitational.