June 1, 2005
Georgia leads the field with a 6-under 274 after Wednesday's first round of the 106th annual NCAA Men's Golf Championships held at the at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
Tenth-ranked ASU shot an 11-over 291 and is tied for 21st as it was teamed with Kentucky (11-over 291) and Georgia State (7-over 287) in the final threesome of the day, which began at 1:30 p.m. ET. ASU, which won NCAA titles in 1990 and 1996, will tee at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday (5:30 a.m. in Arizona). ASU is just nine shots back of third place as 19 teams are separated by just nine strokes.
Individually, sophomore Niklas Lemke had the best Sun Devil round with an even-par 70 with three birdies and three bogeys. He is tied for 21st.
Junior Alejandro Canizares, the 2003 NCAA champion and 2005 Pac-10 Player of the Year, is at 3-over 73, as is classmate Charly Simon.
Senior Pat Moore, who entered the tournament with four straight top-10 finishes, is at 5-over 75. Moore won the U.S. Intercollegiate held at Stanford Golf Course April 16-17 with a 2-under 208 (71-70-67) and has finished in the top-10 in the past four tournaments. He also finished sixth at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational April 8-9 with a 1-over 214 (68-74-72), was third at the Pac-10 Championships April 25-27 in Walla Walla, Wash., with a 5-under 279 (67-67-69-76) and was fifth at the NCAA West Regionals May 19-21 at Stanford with a 1-under 209 (69-69-71).
Jesse Mueller, the 2001 Arizona Amateur champion, is at 8-over 78.
Complete statistics and live scoring are available at www.golfstat.com.
The teams will play 18 holes on Thursday and Friday before the field is cut to the top 15 teams for Saturday's final round in the 72-hole event.
The Golf Channel will televise the final three rounds June 2-4 from 3-5 p.m. EST (Noon-3 p.m. in Arizona).
Top Five Teams NCAA Men's Golf Championships Caves Valley Golf Club/Par 70/7,129 yards1. Georgia 274, -6
2. Tennessee 279, -1
3. Arizona 282, +2
T4. UNLV 284, +4
T4. Coastal Carolina 284, +4
T21. Arizona State 291, +11
Top Individuals/ASU players
T1. Kevin Kisner, Georgia 65, -5
T1. Major Manning, Augusta State 65, -5
T21. Niklas Lemke, ASU 70, E
T71. Charly Simon, ASU 73, +3
T71. Alejandro Canizares, ASU 73, +3
T107. Pat Moore, ASU 75, +5
T137. Jesse Mueller, ASU 78, +8
UNDER Randy Lein: ASU has finished first (1996), fourth (1995), fifth (1998 and 1999), tied for fifth (1997), sixth (1993, 2001 and 2003), tied for ninth (1994), tied for 21st (2004) and tied for 25th (2001) under 13th-year coach Randy Lein in the NCAA Championship.
NCAA CHAMPIONS FROM ASU AND PAC-10: ASU has had four NCAA medalists on six occasions: Jim Carter (1983), Phil Mickelson (1989, 1990, 1992), Todd Demsey (1993) and Alejandro Canizares (2003). Other Pac-10 individual winners include: Frank Tatum Jr. of Stanford (1942), Scott Simpson of USC (1976 and 1977), Ron Commans of USC (1981) and Tiger Woods of Stanford (1996).
TEAM CHAMPIONS FROM THE PAC-10: ASU (1996) and Cal (2004) are the only Pac-10 teams to win the NCAA championship in the past 10 years. Other Pac-10 teams to win the NCAA Men's Golf Championship are: Stanford (1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1953 and 1994), UCLA (1988) and Arizona (1992).
ALEJANDRO NOTES: Junior Alejandro Canizares earned 2005 Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, joining an impressive list of Sun Devils who have won the honor including Scott Watkins (1979 co-player of the year), Dan Forsman (1981 co-player of the year), Billy Mayfair (1987), three-time NCAA champion Phil Mickelson (1990, 1991 and 1992), 1993 NCAA Champion Todd Demsey (1994), three-time Pac-10 champion Paul Casey (2000) and 2000 U.S. Amateur champion Jeff Quinney (2001 co-player of the year). Canizares has won three tournaments in 2004-2005, with victories at the Big/Ten Pac-10 Challenge at Bandon Dunes, Ore., on Oct. 25-26, the Arizona/Ping Intercollegiate Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Tucson and the Puerto Rico Classic Feb. 27-March 1. He has a 71.64 stroke average in 13 events this year with five top-10 finishes. He also earned first-team All-Pac-10 for the second straight year after earning second-team honors and co-Freshman of the Year in 2002-2003. The native of Spain also gets it done in the classroom, as he has a 3.91 grade point average through the spring semester of 2005.