WU Wins NWC Tournament and NWC Championship; Davis is Player of the Year
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University earned its third consecutive Northwest Conference championship and its 23rd NWC title in men's golf by winning the 2022 NWC Tournament at the Creekside Golf Club with a 36-hole score of 576 on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. Willamette won the NWC Championship by taking first place twice and second place once during the three tournaments used to determine the overall title. In addition to winning the NWC Tournament, the Bearcats took first place at the NWC Fall Classic on October 9-10 and were second at the NWC Spring Classic on April 9-10.
The Bearcats received the NWC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship. The NCAA Championship will be held May 10-13 at the Mission Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. Willamette Head Coach Patrick Daugherty was voted NWC Coach of the Year.
Willamette's 4-under par 284 in the second round was the low team score of the weekend. The Bearcats took first place by 32 strokes after leading by five strokes through 18 holes.
Austin Davis (Sr., Culver City, CA/Culver City HS) of Willamette won the individual NWC Tournament title with a score of 142 and was chosen NWC Player of the Year. Davis carded a 72 in the first round and a 70 in the second round.
Davis won the title by one stroke, as Joshua Clogston of Pacific Lutheran University took second place at 143 (73-70). Clogston was named NWC Freshman of the Year.
Willamette teammates Andrew Kibbee (Sr., Kenmore, WA/Bothell HS) and Alex Weirth (Sr., Port Orchard, WA/Crosspoint Academy) tied for third place at 144, as Kibbee shot 77-67 and Weirth shot 71-73. Kibbee earned the low round of the tournament with his 67 on Sunday.
Reynn Hoshide from the University of Puget Sound was fifth at 145 (72-73) and Dante Heitschmidt from George Fox University finished sixth at 148 (70-78). Sam Pauly of Whitworth placed seventh at 149 (73-76). A two-way tie for eighth place at 150 included Caleb Belton of Whitworth (71-79) and Paxton Jones (Fy., Wellington, NZ/Scots College) of Willamette (72-78). Sharing 10th place at 151 were Alexander Knox from Whitman College (79-72) and Mason Rohleder of George Fox (79-72).
Three golfers, including Willamette's Riley Lankford (Sr., Pilot Rock, OR/Pilot Rock HS) tied for 12th place at 152. Tied with Lankford were Chris Cayford of Linfield University and Matthew Siemer from Lewis & Clark College. Lankford shot 78-74, while Cayford shot 77-75 and Siemer carded back-to-back rounds of 76.
The final NWC Tournament team standings were topped by Willamette's score of even par 576 (292-284), with George Fox in second place at 608 (304-340), and Whitworth University one stroke behind the Bruins in third place at 609 (297-312). Pacific Lutheran was fourth at 612 (305-307) and Linfield was fifth at 621 (310-311). Whitman held sixth place at 631 (322-309), Puget Sound was seventh at 638 (320-318), Lewis & Clark was eighth at 645 (326-319), and Pacific University was ninth at 655 (328-327).
Top awards from the NWC in men's golf included Davis' selection as NWC Player of the Year, plus Clogston as the NWC Freshman of the Year and Willamette Head Coach Patrick Daugherty as the NWC Coach of the Year.
Golfers chosen First Team All-NWC were Davis, Kibbee, and Weirth from Willamette, Clogston of Pacific Lutheran, and Belton and Pualy from Whitworth. Second Team All-NWC honors were received by Hoshide from Puget Sound, Knox of Whitman, Heitschmidt of GFU, Oliver Nordberg of Whitworth, Caden Arnold from PLU, and Jones of Willamette.
In the final NWC point standings, Willamette accumulated 31 points to claim the championship, with Whitworth second at 25 points and George Fox in third at 23.5 points. Pacific Lutheran placed fourth at 22 points, while Whitman was fifth at 16.5, Linfield took sixth at 14, Puget Sound was seventh with eight points, Lewis & Clark was eighth with three points, and Pacific was ninth with one point.