UPDATE: The final round of the Inverness Intercollegiate was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the area. Results after round two are final as the Huskies finished tied for seventh place. NIU's next tournament will be their Northern Intercollegiate hosted at Rich Harvest Farms.
TOLEDO, Ohio – The NIU men's golf team finished the first two rounds of the Inverness Intercollegiate tied for seventh place at five-over par for the tournament. The Huskies finished the first round in fourth with a team score of -1 but struggled in the afternoon shooting +6 to finish the day at +5.
"We felt like we were playing really close to the top of the leaderboard but we didn't play the afternoon as well as the morning," Director of Golf and Head Coach
Tom Porten said. "It was a long day, we showed a lot of promise and a lot of progress, we just couldn't close the day out."
The Huskies are tied with fellow Mid-American Conference school Miami (Ohio) and sit two shots back of Ohio State (+3) and four shots back of Washington (+1). St. Mary's (Calif) and Michigan State sit atop the leaderboard as St. Mary's leads at -10 with Michigan State one stroke behind at –9.
Individually, NIU's
Joo-Young Lee (Hillard, Ohio/Xavier) and
Jordan Less (Elmhurst, Ill./York) finished with the best scores for the Huskies at even par, tied for 20
th. Both shot one round at two-under and the other round at two-over with Lee having the better first round and Less finishing the day strong.
"Jordan could have had a better day, I really liked the way he played this afternoon after a rough morning and we expect it to continue tomorrow," Porten said. "It was the first tournament of the year for Joo and there could have been rust, he came out a little sluggish and then he picked himself up."
The rest of the Huskies' lineup finished the day over par as
Thomas DeMarco (Lasalle, Ontario, Canada/Morehead State) ended at +2,
Salvador Rocha (Mexico City, Mexico/American School Foundation) ended at +3,
Matt Cholod (Courtice, Ontario, Canada/Morehead State) finished at +14 and
Paul Schlimm (Shorewood, Ill./Saint Francis), who is competing individually, also finished at +2.
All of NIU's competitors shot a higher score in the second round than they did in the first round with Less and DeMarco being the exceptions. Only five of the 13 teams improved on their first round scores and part of it could have been attributed to more difficult conditions.
"Inverness is a tricky course and we did good to keep our patience," Porten said. "It got a little breezy in the afternoon and the greens got a little bumpy since the hole locations remained the same."
The final day of the tournament will take place tomorrow at the Inverness Club with one 18-hole round. Rain is expected in the forecast for Toledo so the final round may be partially played under wet conditions.
"Our goal for the final round is that we're really looking climb back up into the top five," Porten said. "If we can finish competitive against a strong national field and finish as the top MAC team in the field then we can come away happy with our performance."
