Northwestern Ends Illinois's 8-Year Reign as Big Ten Champion

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It was a wild weekend of weather over a wide swath of the United States, with record-setting numbers of tornado reports, plus lots of rain and wind throughout the middle part of the country. 

In Columbus, they managed to get the Big Ten Conference Championships in, but heavy winds made scoring difficult, and those winds also blew away the eight-year winning streak by the University of Illinois. Northwestern got off to a great start on Friday with an even-par aggregate of 280 at venerable Scioto Country Club. It was the lowest single-round score of the tournament, and the Illini were never able to catch up. In fact, the Wildcats came in with a lower score than the Illini all three days, and they dethroned the perenial conference team champions by 15 shots -- 863 to 878.

Purdue was another eight back, in third place at 886. Michigan was fourth at 889, one ahead of Ohio State, and Indiana was a distant fifth at 902. Minnesota really struggled in the windy conditions on Saturday and couldn't make up any ground on Sunday, finishing 13th in the 14-team conference -- never mind the conference name -- with an overall tab of 913.

The Gophers' No. 1 player for the entire 2023-24 college season -- and for 2022-23, as well -- has been Ben Warian. He got off to a promising start at Scioto with a 69, but he  bogeyed four of the first five holes on Saturday, and when the day was done, he had nine bogeys, no birdies and signed for 79. On Sunday, he started on the back nine and birdied three of his first four holes -- but also had a double bogey in that stretch. Two more doubles on the front nine and two bogeys didn't help. Considering the three doubles, he did pretty well to shoot 75, and he managed to crack the top 20, finishing in a tie for 16th at 223.  

Daniel Svard, a sophomore from Sweden, led the way for Northwestern. He started off with a 2-under-par 68 on Friday, and he finished in the same way, with a virtuoso 68 in the final round. That was just good enough to overtake Illinois junior Jackson Buchanan, who shot 70 on Sunday, and take the individual title by a single stroke. Svard's winning 54-hole total was 211 (1 over) to Buchanan's 212. Svard had grabbed a share of the Big Ten individual championship last year as a freshman, when he tied Iowa's Mac McClear. 

Buchanan shot 71 in each of the first two rounds and led Svard by one (142 to 143) going into Day 3. Svard regained the lead on the front nine Sunday with a 2-under 33 to Buchanan's 37. On the back nine, Svard went bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey on the first four holes. Buchanan birdied the 420-yard, par-4 10th and parred the next three holes; so the All-American from Dacula, Georgia, was 3 over for the tournament at that point, and Svard was 1 over. Buchanan pulled even with birdies at the monster par-3 14th (255 yards) and the 445-yard, par-4 15th. But he bogeyed the 435-yard, par-4 16th, and that was what ended up deciding the issue. 

Svard parred each of the last five holes, which enabled him to claim sole possession of the conference individual crown this year.

The team champs from Northwestern ended up with four players in the top 10, compared with only one for Illinois. Finishing four behind his teammate Svard was the Wildcats' James Imai, a grad student from Brookline, Mass. He closed with a 73, which was a very good score in the conditions on Sunday. It enabled him to catch Michigan State's Ashton McCulloch (75) and tie for third place at 215.

Another four behind Imai and McCulloch was Northwestern sophomore Ethan Tseng, in a tie for eighth at 219 after a valedictory 74. And Wildcats junior Cameron Adam was right behind him, alone in 10th at 220, even though his Sunday 76 didn't count toward the team score of 289. That 289, incidentally, was the only single-round score under 290 posted by any team on the weekend.   


Big Ten Championships

At Scioto Country Club

Par 70, 7,240 yards

Columbus, Ohio

Final results

1. Northwestern          280-294-289--863

2. Illinois                      290-296-292--878

3. Purdue                    288-301-297--886

4. Michigan State        286-291-312--889

5. Ohio State               286-291-312--889

6. Indiana                    290-309-303--902    

T7. Wisconsin             290-303-311--904

T7. Rutgers                 292-305-307--904

'T7.. Nebraska             300-298-306--904

T10. Michigan              305-304-298--907

T10. Penn State          294-306-307--907

12. Iowa                       294-310-305--909

13. Minnesota              293-316-304--913

14. Maryland                307-316-311--934


Individuals

1. Daniel Svard, Northwestern           68-75-68--211

2. Jackson Buchanan, Illinois             71-71-70--212

T3. James Imai, Northwestern            68-74-73--213

T3. Ashton McCulloch, Mich. State    71-69-75--215

T5. Herman Sekne, Purdue               73-72-72--217

T5. August Meekhof, Purdue             73-72-72--217

T5. Neal Shipley, Ohio State              74-69-74--217

T8. Ethan Tseng, Northwestern         71-74-74--219

T8. Hunter Thomson, Michigan         76-74-69--219                      

18. Ethan Tseng, Northwestern        71-71-74--216

10. Cameron Adam, Northwestern   73-71-76--220 

T16. Ben Warian, Minnesota          69-79-75--223

T39. Jacob Pedersen, Minnesota  75-77-77--229

T47. Bennett Swavely, Minnesota  75-80-75--230

T52. Ian Meyer, Iowa                       73-77-82--232

T60. Cormac Sharpe, Minnesota   78-80-77--235

DNF Jack Wetzel, Minnesota             85-78--163

DNF Brock Winter, Minnesota            74

DNF Cormac Sharpe, Minnesota        78