Big Ten Championships: Northwestern leads heading into the final round

April 27, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Ashton McCulloch (Michigan State Athletics Photo)

Northwestern leads the team competition by three shots while Ashton McCulloch of Michigan State leads by one shot

With 18 holes of golf remaining, Northwestern leads the 2024 Big Ten Championship at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, OH., by three shots over Michigan State.

The Wildcats are 14-over after team rounds of 280-294. Four Northwestern golfers are in the top 10 in the individual competition and are led by James Imai, who is T3.

Michigan State is in solo second place at 17-over, Illinois is in solo third place at 26-over, Ohio State is in solo fourth place at 28-over, and Purdue is in solo fifth place at 29-over.

The Wildcats are looking to break an eight-year winning streak by Illinois.

In the individual competition, Ashton McCulloch of Michigan State leads by one shot at even par after rounds of 71-69. His second round 1-under 69 consisted of five birdies and four bogeys and was tied for the round of the day.

McCulloch is currently ranked No. 142 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings. McCulloch won the 2023 Canadian Men's Amateur and most recently finished T2 at the Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate.

McCulloch's Michigan State teammate August Meekhof is in solo second place at 1-over and is one shot back of Meekhof. James Imai of Northwestern and Jackson Buchanan of Illinois are T3 at 2-over

Neal Shipley of Ohio State used the second round to jump 27 spots up the leaderboard, shooting a 1-under 69 to join McCulloch with the round of the day and the only two golfers to shoot an under-par round. Shipley is currently T5 at 3-over.

Daniel Svard of Northwestern and Thomas Hursey of Indiana join Shipley at 3-over and T5.

Big Ten individual champions include Jack Nicklaus (1961), John Cook (1978, 1979), Joey Sindelar (1981), Steve Stricker (1986, 1988, 1989), Shaun Micheel (1991), Luke Donald (2000, 2001), Jeff Overton (2005) and Thomas Pieters (2013).

Results: Big Ten Championship

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Daniel Svard	, Sweden	700	68-75-68=211
2	Jackson Buchanan	Dacula, GA	500	71-71-70=212
T3	James Imai	Brookline, MA	400	68-74-73=215
T3	Ashton McCulloch	, Canada	400	71-69-75=215
T5	Herman Sekne	, Norway	400	73-72-72=217