Hoosiers upset Iowa, Ohio State on way to second-place finish

The No. 7 seeded IU men’s golf team met its match against No. 4 seed Northwestern in the championship match.

The defeat came after a decisive 6-0 sweep of No. 10 seed Wisconsin in the first round and two upsets of No. 2 seed Iowa and No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Big Ten Match Play Championship.

The Hoosiers fell 4-2 to the Wildcats on Saturday to give Northwestern its second straight title.

Through the first two rounds, the Hoosiers played strong, with every player contributing at least one point between the team’s two victories.

Freshman David Mills, sophomores Brant Peaper and Corey Ziedonis and junior David Erdy all won their matches in the first two rounds, contributing eight of the Hoosiers’ 10 points and winning by a combined 35 holes.

Yet Mills and Ziedonis were the only ones who could keep their winning ways going through the final two rounds, each earning one-up victories against Northwestern and providing the only two points the team won in the finals. Both players finished the tournament with 4-0 records.

The Hoosiers needed every point they could get in the Ohio State match. IU tied the Buckeyes 3-3 after six rounds of golf, but the Hoosiers were able to pull out the win in a tiebreaker.

However, IU failed to capitalize on two late-round surges by Erdy and Peaper in the championship match. Peaper led for most of his match against Nick Losole III until he pulled even with four holes remaining. Two birdies on 17 and 18 by Losole clinched the match for Northwestern, dropping Peaper’s tournament record to 2-2.

Erdy, also 2-2 on the weekend, failed to capitalize on his late-round surge. He came within one stroke with one hole left to play after falling behind five holes with eight remaining.

— Nathan Brown