May 9, 2003
ASU COMPETES IN 2003 NCAA WEST REGIONAL: The Arizona State men's golf team competes May 15-17 (Thursday-Saturday) in the 54-hole NCAA West Regional held at Washington National Golf Club (par-72, 7,183 yards) at Auburn, Wash. The 27 schools will play 18 holes each day. The low 10 teams and the low two individuals not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., May 27-30. The Sun Devils have won or tied for the NCAA West Regional title in three of the past five seasons. ASU has won or tied for the West Regional title on five occasions in the 14 years of regional play, as it won outright titles in 2001, 1999 and 1995 and tied for the title in 1998 and 1991. ASU also has finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships in five of the past eight years and has won the Pac-10 title six of the past nine years. The Sun Devils also won national championships in 1990 and 1996. ASU is led by 11th-year head coach Randy Lein, the 1996 National Coach of the Year and a seven-time winner of Pac-10 Coach of the Year (five times at ASU and twice at USC).
REGIONAL STREAK: According to the NCAA Spring Championship Records Book, ASU is one of just six schools that has competed in the NCAA Regionals all 15 years it has existed (including 2003). ASU is joined by Arizona, Clemson, UNLV, North Carolina and Oklahoma State. NCAA Regional play began in 1989 and ASU has finished outside the top five just twice, when it tied for sixth in 2000 and when it finished 20th last year.
RESULTS: Live scoring of the NCAA West Regional Championship will be available at golfstat.com. Results will also be available on Washington's official athletic website gohuskies.com.
THE FIELD: A total of 27 teams and six individuals from across the country have qualified for the 2003 NCAA West Regional. In order of seeding, the field includes: 1. UCLA, 2. UNLV, 3. Arizona, 4. Georgia, 5. Arizona State, 6. Washington, 7. New Mexico, 8. USC, 9. Pepperdine, 10. San Diego State, 11.California, 12. Fresno State, 13. Cal-Irvine, 14. Brigham Young, 15. Colorado State, 16. UTEP, 17. Denver, 18. Oregon, 19. Austin Peay, 20. Stanford, 21. Oregon State, 22. Old Dominion, 23. Xavier, 24. Oral Roberts, 25. Navy, 26. Central Connecticut State and 27. Loyola. Individuals are Matt Hansen of Pacific, Brendan Steele of Cal State Riverside, Travis Bertoni of Cal Poly, Issac Weintraub of San Jose State, Pete Sisich of Cal State Northridge and Graham DeLaet of Boise State.
FORMAT: The tournament features 18 holes on each date starting at 7:12 a.m. PT. The final group tees at 1:21 p.m. Following the second round of competition, team scores determine the pairings. Split tees (#1 and #10) will be used each round.
GOLFWEEK TEAM RANKINGS: The 2003 NCAA West Regional features eight teams ranked in the top-25 in this week's Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index: No. 6 Arizona, No. 10 UNLV, No. 11 UCLA, No. 13 Georgia, No. 16. Arizona State, No. 17 New Mexico, No. 19 Washington and No. 25 Pepperdine.
GOLFWEEK INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS:There are 14 individuals ranked among the top 40 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings in the regional field: No. 5 Nick Watney (Fresno State), No. 10 Ricky Barnes (Arizona), No. 11 Chris Nallen (Arizona), No. 16 Ryan Moore (UNLV), No. 19 Brock Mackenzie (Washington), No. 23 Alejandro Canizares (Arizona State), No. 26 Michael Letzig (New Mexico), No. 29 Kevin Kisner (Georgia), No. 30 Peter Tomasulo (California), No. 32 Jim Seki (Stanford), No. 33 David Denham (Georgia), No. 36 Steve Conway (UCLA), No. 37 Chez Reavie (Arizona State) and No. 40 Martin Laird (Colorado State).
ASU NOTES HEADING INTO REGIONALS: ASU's best tournament of the year was a tournament record 40-under 832 to win its Thunderbird Invitational on April 11-12 at ASU's Karsten Golf Course...freshman Alejandro Canizares is ranked 23rd in the latest Golfweek poll and won the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson on March 30-April 1 with a 4-under 212 (69-73-70). He became the first Sun Devil to win a tournament since Matt Jones tied for the NCAA West Regional title in 2001. He is the first freshman to win a title since Paul Casey won the 1998 West Regional. His 71.42 stroke average in tournaments is the best on the team. He has been selected to the European 2003 Palmer Cup squad...junior Chez Reavie won the 2001 U.S. Public Links Championship and played in the 2002 Masters. He posted the best round in his collegiate career, a 7-under 265, at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on April 12...senior Brady Stockton won the 2002 Pacific Northwest Golf Association title in July and shot the best tournament of his career in the Thunderbird with a 10-under 206, which tied for fifth...sophomore Kendall Critchfield fired a 65 in the second round of the ASU Invitational, his career best.
ASU HEAD COACH RANDY LEIN: Randy Lein has coached 57 tournament victories in his 21 seasons, tutored 43 All-Americans and added the top accolade in collegiate golf in 1995-96 - the NCAA title - to his collection of honors as the Sun Devils won the title in Chattanooga, Tenn., with a three-stroke victory over UNLV at the Honors Course. In his 11th season as ASU's coach, Lein has guided ASU to 34 tournament victories (including a school record six in 1995-96), seven Pac-10 titles, four NCAA West Regional wins (three of the past five) and eight top-10 finishes at the NCAAs including the 1996 title. In addition, Lein has tutored NCAA medalist Todd Demsey and 11 All-Americans (23 occasions): Todd Demsey (3), Chris Hanell (3), Paul Casey (3), Cade Stone, Chris Stutts, Joey Snyder (2), Scott Johnson (2), Darren Angel (2), Paul Casey (3), Jeff Quinney (3), Matt Jones and Chez Reavie (1). He has won Pac-10 Coach-of-the-Year five times (1993, 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000) while at ASU and twice at USC (1980 and 1986). Lein (pronounced "Line") is a 1975 graduate of Cal State Northridge.
CHEZ REAVIE: The 2001 U.S. Public Links Champion...a top-10 finisher in 13 of 27 career events...has finished in the top 10 in eight of 11 tournaments this year...tied for fourth at the 2001 NCAA Championships after with a 7-under 281 (71-67-74-69).
Chez Reavie Career Statistics Year App Top 10 Rds. Avg. Low 2002-03 11 8 34 71.71 65 2001-02 6 3 19 73.37 67 2000-01 10 2 31 72.58 67 Career 27 13 84 72.40 65
ASU IN THE WEST REGIONALS: ASU has won or tied for the title in the NCAA West Regional five times, as it has won the event in three of the past five seasons.
NCAA West Regional Champions Year Champ ASU Finish Individual Champion 1989 Arizona 2nd Robert Gamez (Arizona) 1990 UNLV 3rd* Hub Goyen (UNLV) 1991 ASU/UA T-1st *Warren Schutte (UNLV) 1992 Arizona* 2nd Harry Rudolph (Arizona) 1993 Arizona 2nd Manny Zerman (Arizona) 1994 UNLV 2nd Edward Fryatt (UNLV) 1995 ASU 1st Mike Sauer (New Mexico) 1996 Stanford 2nd* *Tiger Woods (Stanford) 1997 UNLV 2nd Aaron Oberholser (SJ St.) 1998 ASU/UNM T-1st Paul Casey (ASU) 1999 ASU 1st Jeff Quinney (ASU) 2000 Arizona T-6th Michael Beard (Pepperdine) 2001 ASU 1st Matt Jones (ASU) Kyle Thompson (South Carolina) 2002 UNM/UW 20th Ricky Barnes (UA) Justin Smith (Minnesota) *Eventual NCAA Champion
CANIZARES ON ASU CHART: Alejandro's 71.42 stroke average is the best by a Sun Devil freshman in school history. Todd Demsey, who won the 1993 NCAA Championship, posted a 72.10 stroke average in 1991-92 to set the mark.
ASU MEN'S GOLF FRESHMAN SCORING AVERAGES (1989-2003) Stroke Rk. Name, Events Year Average 1. Alejandro Canizares, 6 2002-03 71.42 2. Todd Demsey, 15 1991-92 72.10 3. Phil Mickelson, 14 1988-89 72.14 4. Paul Casey, 12 1997-98 72.30 5. Jeff Quinney, 11 1997-98 72.57 6. Chez Reavie, 10 2000-01 72.58 7. Matt Jones, 8 1998-99 73.38
ASU MEN'S GOLF PROBABLE LINEUP (Tourn.-Rds.-Avg.)
Chez Reavie 5-7/Jr. Mesa, Ariz. 11-34-71.71 2001 U.S. Public Links Champion
Alejandro Canizares 5-10/Fr. Manilva, Spain 6-19-71.42 2003 National Invitational Champion
Brady Stockton 6-3/Sr. San Ramon, Calif. 7-22-72.36 2002 Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) Champion
Kendall Critchfield 5-8/So. Mesa, Ariz. 5-15-73.27
Ben Flam 5-10/Jr. Phoenix, Ariz. 9-27-72.89
Jesse Mueller 5-8/So. Mesa, Ariz. 8-24-73.67 2001 Arizona Amateur Champion