Warian Is 4th after 1st Round of Big Ten; Gophers Are 9th

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- August Meekhof made three bogeys on each nine at Scioto Country Club on Friday in the first round of the Big Ten Championships. On the back nine, which he played first, he offset his birdies with three bogeys, but he kept his scorecard clean on the front nine, and the resulting 3-under-par 67 has the Michigan State senior in first place one-third of the way through the tournament.

The former Michigan Junior Player of the Year and reigning Michigan State Amateur champion didn't exactly pick on the easy holes as he made his way around the front side. He birdied the 460-yard, par-4 second, the 210-yard fourth and the 465-yard sixth.

That birdie, as it turned out, was the difference between him and the two players tied for second. Northwestern teammates, sophomore Daniel Svard and James Imai, a graduate student, both shot 68s. They are the main reasons that the Wildcats lead the team competition by six shots with a first-day aggregate of 280. Michigan State is second, and Purdue is two behind the Spartans, in third at 288.

The team scoreboard gets crowded after that. There is a difference of only four strokes between the two teams tied for fourth at 290 -- Indiana and Illinois (the perennial Big Ten team champ for the past decade) -- and the two teams tied for 10th -- Iowa and Penn State. They are at 294. Just ahead of them is Minnesota, in ninth place with first-day tab of 293.

As usual, the player leading the Gophers was Ben Warian, a senior from Stillwater who, like Meekhof, plays left-handed. He shot 69 and is alone in fourth place.

The winner of the individual medal at the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate last week, Warian pretty much alternated birdies on par 4s and bogeys on par 3s for the first eight holes Friday, after starting his round on the 10th tee. But he closed out the back nine with a birdie at the daunting, 485-yard, par-4 18th, and he got to 2 under for the day when he birdied the 565-yard, par-5 fifth. But he slipped back to 1 under when he bogeyed another monster par 4, the 510-yard eighth.

Even though the par at Scioto is 70, the course is playing a more par-72-like 7,240 yards.


Big Ten Championships

At Scioto Country Club

Par 70, 7,240 yards

Columbus, Ohio

First-round results

1. Northwestern 280

2. Michigan State 286

3. Purdue 288

T4. Indiana 290

T4. Illinois 290

T4. Wisconsin 290

7. Ohio State 291

8. Rutgers 292

9. Minnesota 293

T10. Iowa 294

T11. Penn State 294

12. Nebraska 300

13. Michigan 305

14. Maryland 307

Individuals

1. August Meekhof, Mich. State 67

T2. Daniel Svard, Northwestern 68

T2. James Imai, Northwestern 68

4. Ben Warian, Minnesota 69

T5. Jacob Beckman, Wisconsin 70

T5. Ken Hsiao, Purdue 70

T5. Thomas Hiursey, Indiana 70

T23. Ian Meyer, Iowa 73

T32. Brock Winter, Minnesota 74

T40. Jacob Pedersen, Minnesota 75

T40. Bennett Swavely, Minnesota 75

T61. Cormac Sharpe, Minnesota 78