SALEM, Ore. – After taking charge in the opening round, the Whitworth men's golf team withstood a tough challenge from host Willamette to claim the title on Sunday at the Northwest Conference Fall Classic on Sunday at Creekside Golf Club.

The Pirates shot a team score of 287 (-1) on Saturday to open a three stroke lead over Linfield, seven strokes over Whitman and nine over Willamette. While the Wildcats and Blues faded on Sunday, the Bearcats rallied to tie Whitworth with six holes to play.  But the Pirates withstood the pressure and ended up defeating the Bearcats by eight strokes after posting a team score of 290 in the second round.

The final team scores were: Whitworth 577, Willamette 585, Whitman 589, Linfield 595, Pacific Lutheran 613, Pacific (Ore.) 634, Puget Sound 638, George Fox 645, Lewis & Clark 668.

Jacob Rawley had a chance to earn the medal as the top individual player.  He led by a stroke heading to his final hole, but posted a six on the par four 18^th.  Whitman's Alex Knox led by a stroke, but then bogeyed the 17^th hole and the two finished in a tie for first place.  Knox won on the third playoff hole after both players birdied the first and parred the second.  Rawley parred the third while Knox got a birdie.  Rawley finished 70-71 – 141 (-3), while Knox went 68-73 – 141.

Sam Pauly tied for third place with a final score of 72-71 – 143 and Oliver Nordberg took fifth after shooting 69-75 – 144.  Whitworth had three of the top five individual finishers.

Isaac Janzen (76-73 – 149), who finished tie for first last week at the Linfield Wildcat Invitational, tied for 14^th place.  Matthew Durkin (79-80 – 159) tied for 25^th place.

The NWC Fall Classic counts as 25% of the final league standings.  Whitworth now has eight points and Willamette seven points.  Each team receives a point for each team it beats in the tournament. Following next week's tournament in Walla Walla, the teams will be off until resuming in the spring.  The NWC Spring Classic will also count as 25%, while the NWC Tournament counts as 50% at the end of the regular season.