June 13, 2005
Arizona State men's golfer Alejandro Canizares has been named a third-team PING All-American after a junior season that saw him win three tournaments and earn Pac-10 Player of the Year, while sophomore Niklas Lemke has earned honorable mention honors.
Canizares, a junior who won the 2003 NCAA championship, finished the season with a 71.65 stroke average in 14 tournaments, which tied for the 10th-best scoring average in ASU history, and added five top-10 finishes. He 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 earned third-team honors last year after earning first-team honors in 2002-2003.
He 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 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 and was a first-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection.
He became just the sixth freshman in NCAA history to win the individual title with his 1-under 287 in 2003 at the Karsten Creek Course in Stillwater, Okla. Canizares came back from six strokes on the final day to win the event over three-day leader Lee Williams of Auburn and shot a 77-70-71-69. It marked the toughest course on the players in 20 years, as his 287 total was the highest by a champion since another Sun Devil, Jim Carter, won the 1983 title with a 287 as well.
Lemke finished his sophomore season with a 73.50 stroke average in 13 events. ASU finished tied for 11th at the NCAA Championships held June 1-4 in Owings Mills, Md., as both Canizares (73-71-72-71) and Lemke (70-70-76-71) tied for 19th at 7-over 287.
Second team selections included Brigham Young's Oscar Alvarez, David Denham, Chris Kirk and Brendon Todd of Georgia, Augusta State's Kalle Edberg, John Holmes of Kentucky, Oklahoma State's Tyler Leon, Jeff Overton of Indiana and Chan Song and Nicholas Thompson of Georgia Tech.
Canizares, Mark Anderson of South Carolina, Dustin Johnson of Coastal Carolina, TCU's J.J. Killeen, Bronson LaCassie of Minnesota, Tennessee's Ross McGowan, Alex Norén and Zack Robinson of Oklahoma State and Wake Forest's Kyle Reifers were named to the PING All-America third-team.
A total of 30 golfers were named to the honorable mention team.
Division I PING All-America Teams
First Team Ryan Blaum, Duke Roberto Castro, Georgia Tech Rhys Davies, East Tennessee State Matt Every, Florida Anthony Kim, Oklahoma James Lepp, Washington Spencer Levin, New Mexico Pablo Martin, Oklahoma State Ryan Moore, UNLV Aron Price, Georgia Southern Michael Putnam, Pepperdine
Second Team Oscar Alvarez, Brigham Young David Denham, Georgia Kalle Edberg, Augusta State John Holmes, Kentucky Chris Kirk, Georgia Tyler Leon, Oklahoma State Jeff Overton, Indiana Chan Song, Georgia Tech Nicholas Thompson, Georgia Tech Brendon Todd, Georgia
Third Team Mark Anderson, South Carolina Alejandro Canizares, Arizona State Dustin Johnson, Coastal Carolina J.J. Killeen, TCU Bronson LaCassie, Minnesota Ross McGowan, Tennessee Alex Norén, Oklahoma State Kyle Reifers, Wake Forest Zack Robinson, Oklahoma State David Skinns, Tennessee
Honorable Mention Jeremy Alcorn, Baylor Travis Bertoni, Cal Poly Jordan Dempsey, Mississippi Will Dodson, Southern Methodist Rob Grube, Stanford Scott Jamieson, Augusta State Shawn Jasper, Missouri Ryan Keeney, UNLV Kevin Kisner, Georgia Nathan Lashley, Arizona Gregg LaVoie, Oregon Niklas Lemke, Arizona State Henry Liaw, Arizona Luke List, Vanderbilt Major Manning, Augusta State David Palm, Georgia Southern Matthew Rosenfeld, Texas Richard Scott, Georgia Michael Shachner, Duke Webb Simpson, Wake Forest Nathan Smith, Duke Brett Stegmaier, Florida Steve Tiley, Georgia State Emmett Turner, Augusta State Martin Ureta, North Carolina Dawie VanDerWalt, Lamer James Vargas, Florida Lee Williams, Auburn Taylor Wood, Southern California Joshua Wooding, Southern California