June 3, 2005
Tenth-ranked ASU continued to move up the leaderboard Friday as it shot a 21-over 301 in tough conditions and moved into a tie for fifth after the third round of the 108th annual NCAA Men's Golf Championships held at the at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. The average morning round score was 76.68 as rain fell throughout the day. ASU's 301 was tied for the ninth-best round of the day, while Alejandro Canizares led ASU with a 2-over 72, as he was one of just 16 golfers in the 156-player field to shoot 72 or better on the day.
ASU moved from a tie for 21st after the first round to 11th after Thursday's second round and is now at 37-over 877 (291-285-301) and part of a five-way tie for fifth between Duke, Augusta State, Kentucky and Washington.
Georgia, one of 10 different schools to win the NCAA men's golf title in the past 12 years as it won the tournament in 1999, continues to lead the field with 15-over 855 (274-284-297), but just two shots separates ASU from third-place USC, which is at 35-over 875 (290-282-303).
The Sun Devils will try for the their sixth top-five finish in head coach Randy Lein's 13 years at ASU on Saturday. 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 Lein in the NCAA Championship.
Junior Alejandro Canizares, the 2003 NCAA champion and 2005 Pac-10 Player of the Year, is at 6-over 216 (73-71-72) and tied for 17th after shooting his solid 2-over 72 on Friday in the tough conditions. Both Canizares and sophomore Niklas Lemke (70-70-76) are within three shots of cracking the top-10.
Charly Simon is at 13-over 223 (73-73-77) after shooting 77 and is tied for 68th.
Senior Pat Moore, who entered the tournament with four straight top-10 finishes, is at 14-over 224 (75-73-76) and is tied for 75th. 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).
Senior Jesse Mueller, the 2001 Arizona Amateur champion, is at 19-over 229 (78-71-80) and is tied for 118th.
Complete statistics and live scoring are available at www.golfstat.com.
The teams will play 18 holes in Saturday's final round in the 72-hole event.
There are six Pac-10 schools in the event (Arizona, ASU, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington), as defending NCAA champion California did not qualify for the 30-team field. Arizona (885/+45), Stanford (888/+48) and UCLA (904/+64) did not make the 15-team cut for the final round.
The Golf Channel is televising the final three rounds June 2-4 from 3-5 p.m. EST (Noon-3 p.m. in Arizona). ASU is part of the earliest tee time of the day, as ASU, UNLV and Duke student-athletes tee from 8:36 a.m.-9:03 a.m. ET.
Top Five Teams and Pac-10 Schools NCAA Men's Golf Championships Caves Valley Golf Club/Par 70/7,131 yards1. Georgia 274-284-297=855, +15
2. Georgia Tech 288-281-295=864, +24
3. USC 290-282-303=875, +35
4. UNLV 284-290-302=876, +36
T5. Arizona State 291-285-301=877, +37
T5. Duke 288-286-303=877, +37
T5. Washington 289-285-303=877, +37
T5. Kentucky 291-292-294=877, +37
T5. Augusta State 286-289-302=877, +37
17. Arizona 282-296-307=885, +45
T18. Stanford 296-292-300=888, +48
30. UCLA 299-301-304=904, +64
Top Individuals/ASU players
1. Michael Putnam, Pepperdine 67-67-73=207, -3
T17. Niklas Lemke, ASU 70-70-76=216, +6
T17. Alejandro Canizares, ASU 73-71-72=216, +6
T68. Charly Simon, ASU 73-73-77=223, +13
T75. Pat Moore, ASU 75-73-76=224, +14
T118. Jesse Mueller, ASU 78-71-80=229, +19
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).