October 9, 2006

Higgins Finishes Ninth at Windon Memorial Classic Hosted by Northwestern

Oct. 9, 2006

Final Results in PDF Format
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GLENCOE, Ill. - University of Northern Colorado junior golfer Eric Higgins carded a final round of 75 to finish ninth overall at the Windon Memorial Classic hosted by Northwestern University and held at Skokie Country Club on Sunday and Monday.

The tournament marked a return to the Chicagoland area for Northern Colorado head coach Wally Goodwin, who was coach at Northwestern from 1981-87 before taking over at Stanford where he won National Coach of the Year honors.

Northern Colorado was fifth after round one of the Windon, but slipped back in each of the final two rounds, shooting four strokes higher in the second round and 16 strokes higher than the first round in Monday's final 18 holes. The tournament was won by SMU, who improved over each of the three rounds to finish at +29, 14 strokes better than second place Kansas. The tournament featured six teams ranked in the top 50 nationally.

Higgins had his best finish of the season by placing ninth overall (+9). He was 11 strokes behind SMU's Colt Knost, who finished at -2 and took individual medalist honors.

Sophomore Jordan Ensrud was 24th overall (+16), seven strokes behind Higgins. Senior Kyle Sullivan finished 33rd overall (+18) following a final round 81. Junior Tom Gempel also fired an 81 on Monday and finished 51st overall (+25), one stroke better than teammate Jon Stecher, who had an 82 on Monday.

Northern Colorado is back in action on Oct. 16-17 when they travel to The Prestige at PGA West. The event, in La Quinta, Calif., is one of the most prestigious held during the regular season and this marks the third consecutive season the Bears have competed at the tournament. Northern Colorado was ninth of 18 teams at last year's event.

Northern Colorado Final Standings

 9. Eric Higgins        71-76-75  222 (+9)
24. Jordan Ensrud       75-75-79  229 (+16)
33. Kyle Sullivan       77-73-81  231 (+18)
51. Tom Gempel          77-80-81  238 (+25)
53. Jon Stecher         77-80-82  239 (+26)

Final Team Standings

 1. SMU                 296-294-291  881 (+29)
 2. Kansas              306-290-299  895 (+43)
 3. Illinois            304-296-297  897 (+45)
 4. Kent State          297-301-302  900 (+48)
    Michigan State      290-306-304  900 (+48)
    Colorado            297-295-308  900 (+48)
 7. Northwestern        306-291-310  907 (+55)
    Toledo              307-303-297  907 (+55)
 9. North Florida       308-302-304  914 (+62)
10. New Mexico          304-309-302  915 (+63)
11. Northern Colorado   300-304-316  920 (+68)
12. Western Illinois    319-301-330  950 (+98)