April 27, 2005
WALLA WALLA, Wash.-- For the Arizona State men's golf team and senior Pat Moore, Wednesday's final round of the Pac-10 Championships was a case of bad timing, great defense by Mother Nature and a championship tiebreaker policy that should probably be changed to include a playoff.
The Washington Huskies benefited from an early tee time, while the Sun Devils were forced to play most of their final round in wind storms that reached as high as 30 miles per hour. UW and Husky sophomore Erik Olson both came from behind Wednesday to win the individual and team titles at the Pacific-10 Conference Men's Golf Championships, as ASU finished second for the second straight year. The Sun Devils actually tied the Huskies at 5-over 1,425, but Pac-10 Conference rules stipulate that in the event of a tie, the lowest cumulative score of the team's six final-round scores decides the championship, as there is no playoff.
The winds were so bad that ASU and UCLA, the leaders coming into the day and playing in the final group, both had at least five schools shoot better final-round scores. ASU shot a 367 in the final round (as did defending NCAA champion California), while UCLA had a 371. Only ninth- and tenth-place finishers Oregon State (370) and Washington State (375) posted scores in the 370-range.
Olson, a native of Renton, Wash., came into the final round tied for second place, four strokes behind Pat Moore. Olson posted a 2-under 69 at the par 71, 6,606-yard Walla Walla Country Club, in the final round to win the individual title by one stroke. Olson finished with an 8-under 276. He was the only player in the field to post all four rounds under par.
The Huskies came into the final round in fifth place, 17 strokes behind third-round leader ASU. Washington posted the lowest team score of the final round, finishing the day tied with Arizona State.
"We got really fortunate with mother nature," said Washington Head Coach Matt Thurmond.
Moore, who just missed capturing his second consecutive individual title, finished in third place at 5-under 279. He was one of three Sun Devils to finish the tournament in the top 10. Niklas Lemke, a sophomore from Linkoping, Sweden, finished tied for seventh with a 1-under 283. Alejandro Canizares of Manilva, Spain, finished tied for 10th with an even-par 284.
ASU will next compete at the NCAA West Regional held at Stanford May 19-21. It is held at the Stanford Golf Course, where Pat Moore won the U.S. Intercollegiate championship April 16-17.
Pacific-10 Conference Championships April 25-27, 2005 Walla Walla Country Club; Walla Walla, Wash. Par 71, 6,606 yards Final ResultsTeam Results: T1. Washington (371-353-351-350--1425, +5) T1. Arizona State (351-358-349-367--1425, +5) 3. Arizona (356-366-352-354--1428, +8) 4. UCLA (352-355-354-371--1432, +12) 5. Oregon (369-357-355-355--1436, +16) 6. Stanford (363-359-351-365--1438, +18) 7. Southern California (362-352-368-362--1444, +24) 8. California (353-361-368-367--1449, +29) 9. Washington State (359-358-366-375--1458, +38) 10. Oregon State (363-366-362-370--1461, +41)
Individuals: 1. Erik Olson, Washington (70-69-68-69--276, -8) 2. Nathan Lashley, Arizona (68-72-68-69--277, -7) 3. Pat Moore, Arizona State (67-67-69-76--279, -5) T7. Niklas Lemke, Arizona State (73-73-68-69--283, -1) T10. Alejandro Canizares, Arizona State (71-69-71-73-284, E) T25. Jesse Mueller, Arizona State (70-73-71-75-289, +5) T41. Kendall Critchfield, Arizona State (71-80-70-74-295, +11) T48. Charly Simon,Arizona State (72-76-72-78-298, +14)