April 17, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern travels to West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday through Sunday, April 19-20, for the Boilermaker Invitational, its final tournament before the Big Ten Championships. The 14-team field at the Boilermaker includes six conference opponents.

The Invitational is a two-day, 54-hole tournament with 36 holes Saturday and the final round Sunday. It is being held at the par 72, 7,467 yard Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. Shotgun starts will commence at 8 a.m. CT both Saturday and Sunday.

The Big Ten teams in the field are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin. The field includes five teams ranked in the Top 50 of the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings: No. 4 Charlotte, No. 23 Michigan State, No. 24 Indiana, No. 38 Kent State and No. 48 Ohio State.

Last weekend at the Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus, Ohio, Northwestern struggled to a 12th-place finish in the 14-team field after the first round before posting the best team total in the second round and the second-best team tally in the final 18 holes to climb to a fifth-place finish. The effort put the 'Cats over the .500 mark in terms of wins and losses on the year (finishing ahead of a team in a tournament is considered a win while finishing behind a squad is a loss), which is the new benchmark for NCAA Championships eligibility this season.

Northwestern tied for second with host Purdue at last year's Boilermaker Invitational. Senior Dan Doyle (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) finished a team-best fourth place in the tournament, which was shortened to 36 holes last season due to weather.

Live scoring will not be available for this weekend's tournament. Results will be posted at NUsports.com following each day's action.