June 2, 2006
SUNRIVER, Ore. - Fighting a near-constant rainfall and dip in temperature, the Arizona State University men's golf team continued to stay near the top of the team standings, finishing the day with a 6-over 294 and remained in a tie for second place heading into the final round to be played Saturday at the Crosswater Club Course in Sunriver, Ore. The Sun Devils, who are looking for their third national title and first since 1996, saw only one player, Benjamin Alvarado Holley, break par on the 7,630-yard, par-72 course.
"The course played difficult today and we were just hanging in there," Head Coach Randy Lein said. "The good thing is at this point is we just had to count a quadruple bogey and three triples. That's 13 shots in four holes and we're still right in contention. We just have to eliminate those because we're certainly posting enough birdies and making some good scores. We'll be fine tomorrow. It was a long round, but you know that ahead of time. The players know because they've played in the rain. Given a choice, you'd rather not have to play in the rain, but everyone's in it. You just do the best you can and wait for the next day to come."
As a team, the Sun Devils, for the second day in a row, find themselves trailing conference foe Washington by three strokes with the Huskies leading the way at 7-under for the tournament. ASU is tied at 4-under with Oklahoma State and Wake Forest following a day that saw only three of the 30 teams in the field record par or better.
Alvarado posted the low round of the day for the Sun Devils as he collected four birdies to one bogey and finished with a 3-under 69 total to move up to 1-over on the tournament (217). His round three score also marked his best on the year. Alejandro Canizares shot an even par 72 on the day to remain at 5-under for the event while Niklas Lemke, who was tied for second in the standings, ran into some trouble and finished the day with a 5-over 77 to fall to 1-under in the tournament. Lenny Park closed his round with a 4-over 76 and slipped to 3-over in the event while Phil Telliard recorded a 15-over 87.
In the individual standings, Canizares leads the way as he is tied for fifth and is four strokes off the leader, Jonathon Moore of Oklahoma State at 9-under. Canizares, the 2003 NCAA Champion, came back from six strokes down on the final day as a freshman to win his title and will look for some of the same magic Saturday. Lemke, who recorded only his second round of over-par play in his last 11 rounds, slipped to tied for 16th. Alvarado climbed from a tie for 92nd up to a tie for 30th while Park slipped down to tied for 50th. Telliard is tied for 146th overall.
The final round of play for the Sun Devils opens with their first tee time on Hole 1 at 8:27 a.m. and will be paired with Minnesota and Lamar.
109th NCAA Golf Championships
Crosswater Club - Sunriver, Ore.
Day 3 Results
T-5. Alejandro Canizares: - 5 (74-66-72=211)
T-16. Niklas Lemke: -1 (70-68-77=215)
T-30. Benjamin Alvarado Holley: +3 (73-75-69=217)
T-50. Lenny Park: +3 (71-72-76=219)
T-146. Phil Telliard: +19 (75-73-87=235)
Team Standings
1. Washington, -7 (857)
2. Arizona State, -4 (860)
2. Wake Forest, -4 (860)
2. Oklahoma State, -4 (860)
5. Minnesota, +1 (865)
5. Lamar, +1 (865)