March 12, 2010

Day 1 Results

DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois men's golf team concluded day one of the Pinehurst Intercollegiate in tenth place, out of 15 teams, with a score of 301through 18 holes at the Centennial Pinehurst No. 8 in Pinehurst, N.C. Friday. The Huskies, who are in a tie for tenth place with Ball State and Marshall, trail current leader Penn State (288) by 13 strokes.

"It was the first round of the spring, and we struggled a little bit on the front nine and it showed in our scores," NIU head men's golf coach Tom Porten said. "The last six holes or so we battled pretty well and we did much better as a team. I am really proud of Matt and Jeff, who played very well in the final holes, and kept us in the competition."

Senior Matt Triplett (St. Charles, Ill./East) and junior Jeff Dick's (Sherman, Texas/Sherman) scores in the first round placed them among the top-20 finishers at the event. Triplett led the Huskies with an 18-hole score of 72, to finish in a tie for ninth place. Dick finished second for NIU totaling a score of 73 to tie for 15th.

Sophomore Griffin Bauman (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) and freshman Paul Hammerschmidt (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) are tied for 59th, both shooting a 78 (+6) in the first round. Rounding out the Huskie team was freshman Kurtis Luedtke (Aurora, Ill./West) who shot a 79 (+7) to tie for 65th.

"The good news is we are only seven shots from fifth place," said Porten. "The bad news is we are not among the top ten teams after the first day, but with each day of training and each day of competition we continue to get better. Hopefully tomorrow we are going to come out strong and continue to improve."

The Huskies will enter day two of the three-day, 54-hole tournament tomorrow, with a tee-time set for 8 a.m. (CDT).

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