May 18, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. - The No. 7 Arizona State men's golf team shot a four-under 284 on Thursday and is tied for 10th place after the first round of the NCAA West Regional, being played Thursday-Saturday at the par-72, 7,200-yard Omni Tucson National Golf Course.
Three players shot even par or better for the Sun Devils led by senior Alejandro Canizares, who shot a four-under 68 to finish the day tied for sixth place. For Canizares, it marked the fourth straight round that he has shot under par going back to his final three rounds at the Pac-10 Championships last month in Palm Desert, Calif. Junior Niklas Lemke is two shots behind Canizares and stands tied for 26th place after carding a two-under 70 on Thursday. Shooting an even-par score of 72 was freshman Benjamin Alvarado Holley, who ended the first day tied for 51st place.
"We started out kind of slow and it didn't get a lot better, but that's why they play three rounds," said ASU head coach Randy Lein. "The weather and course were perfect for some low scoring. We were paired with BYU and Florida and Florida shot 15-under and so obviously it set up well for them. We picked up a few shots at the end which is good. We are in the hunt and we go early tomorrow so hopefully we can take advantage of that."
Leading the way after the first round were the top-seeded Florida Gators, who recorded a 15-under 273 on their way to a six-shot lead over second-place Arizona (nine-under 279). Fresno State (eight-under 280) is in third place followed by a three-way tie (Brigham Young, North Carolina State and Nevada) for fourth place (six-under 282). Stanford, Pepperdine and UC-Irvine are in a three-way tie for seventh place (five-under 283) and rounding out the top-10 of the 27-team field are ASU, East Tennessee State and Loyola Marymount, who are tied for 10th place (four-under 284).
Individually, Dustin Pimm of Utah is leading the way after carding a six-under 66 on Thursday. The Florida trio of Matt Every, Billy Horschel and James Vargas are tied for second place after all three players posted five-under 67s. Canizares is one of nine players who are tied for sixth place (-4). Lemke, meanwhile, is one of 12 players who are tied for 26th place (-2).
Other Sun Devil scores include senior Lenny Park, who shot a two-over 74 (currently tied for 83rd place) and sophomore Phil Telliard, who ended up with a four-over 76 (currently tied for 114th place).
Play in the NCAA West Regional continues on Friday and Saturday with tee times starting at 7 a.m. each day. Live scoring is available for each round of the NCAA West Regional at www.golfstatresults.com.
The Sun Devils will tee off at 7 a.m. on Friday and will once again play with Florida and Brigham Young.
The top 10 teams from each of the three NCAA Regional sites (East, West and Central) will qualify for the NCAA Championships, taking place May 31-June 3 at the Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore.