Wildcats Earn Top Three Golf Finishes, Individual Wins Out West

Northwestern came home with some hardware over the weekend.

Northwestern Wildcats golfer Dianna Lee at the Ping/ASU Invitational from March 28-30, 2025. | Photo: Arianna Grainey/Northwestern Athletics

As the regular season nears its close, the Northwestern men's and women's golf teams both showed out on the West Coast last weekend.

The No. 10 ranked women placed second out of 13 teams at the Ping/ASU Invitational, hosted by Arizona State, while the No. 29 men placed third among 30 teams at The Goodwin, hosted by Stanford. Each team also had an individual winner, as junior Dianna Lee earned her first career victory and junior Daniel Svard tied with four others for the men's title.

Lee finished with a score of -10 (70-68-68=206) at the competition, setting a career-best mark. After shooting -2 in Round 1, Lee shot four-under on both Saturday and Sunday to claim the individual win. The 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year was ranked No. 141 nationally entering the weekend, but skyrocketed up to No. 80 after her strong performance in Phoenix.

As a group, Northwestern's -23 trailed only Arizona State, whose -36 won the team title. The Wildcats were the two-time reigning champions in Phoenix, but couldn't take down the host Sun Devils despite all five golfers finishing under par. Freshman Elise Lee (7th) and sophomore Ashley Yun (T-8th) each placed in the top ten, while senior Lauryn Nguyen and freshman Hsin Tai Lin tied for 13th.

Svard tied for the overall win on the men's side with a score of -5 (67-70-68=205). The two-time reigning Big Ten champion shot -3, even and -2 over three rounds to earn his best finish of the season at The Goodwin. Svard also climbed in the individual rankings following his win, rising from No. 81 to No. 45.

UCLA won the team title by shooting -11, followed by Colorado at -2 and Northwestern at -1. Junior Ethan Tseng placed 21st to earn his third top 25 finish of the season, while sophomore Niall Shiels-Donegan (T-26th), senior Cameron Adam (T-49th) and sophomore Archie Finnie (T-93rd) rounded out the scoring.

Both Northwestern squads have one competition remaining before the Big Ten Championships. The women will head to Napa, California to attend the Silverado Showdown, hosted by Colorado from April 7-9. The men will travel to Charlottesville, Virginia a week later to participate in the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial, hosted by Virginia on April 14-15.