May 17, 2006
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ASU HEADS SOUTH: The Arizona State University men's golf team travels south for the NCAA West Regional held May 18-20 at Omni Tucson National Golf Course (par-72, 7,200 yards). The 27 schools and six individuals will play 18 holes each day. The second-seeded Sun Devils will tee with top-seeded Florida and third-seeded Brigham Young beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Live scoring of the tournament will be available at www.golfstat.com.The top 10 teams and top two individuals not on those teams will advance to the 2006 NCAA Championships to be held at Crosswater Golf Club at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore., May 31- June 3 with the University of Portland serving as host.
ALEJANDRO NOTES: Junior Alejandro Canizares, a 2006 finalist for the Byrson Nelson Award, earned 2006 Co-Pac-10 Player of the Year honors and also earned the honor outright in 2005, 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 is the first Pac-10 golfer to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons since Tiger Woods of Stanford in 1995-96. He also earned first-team All-Pac-10 for the third straight year after earning second-team honors and co-Freshman of the Year in his rookie season of 2002-2003. The native of Spain and three-time All-American also got it done in the classroom, as he graduated in 3 1/2 years summa cum laude with a 3.87 grade point average.
ASU HEAD COACH Randy Lein: Randy Lein has coached 60 tournament victories in his 24 seasons, tutored 50 All-Americans and added the top accolade in collegiate golf in 1995-96 - the NCAA title - to his collection as the Sun Devils won the title in Chattanooga, Tenn., with a three-stroke victory over UNLV at the Honors Course. In his 14th season as ASU's coach, Lein has guided ASU to 37 tournament victories (including a school record six in 1995-96), seven Pac-10 titles, four NCAA West Regional wins (three of the past eight) and eight top-10 finishes at the NCAAs including the 1996 title. In addition, Lein has tutored NCAA medalists Todd Demsey and Alejandro Canizares and 13 All-Americans (29 occasions): Todd Demsey (3), Chris Hanell (3), Paul Casey (3), Cade Stone, Chris Stutts, Joey Snyder (2), Scott Johnson (2), Darren Angel (2), Jeff Quinney (3), Matt Jones (2), Chez Reavie (3), Alejandro Canizares (3) and Niklas Lemke (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.
ASU'S BEST: Senior Alejandro Canizares is looking to bump himself out of the ASU top-10 single-season stroke average list. After 11 tournaments this year, Canizares has a 71.41 stroke average, currently the eighth-best mark in ASU history. His 71.38 stroke average in 2003-2004 is seventh-best in ASU history, while his 71.65 marks in both 2002-03 and 2004-05 are currently tied for 11th-best.
ASU MEN'S GOLF SCORING AVERAGES (1987-2006) Rk. Name, Events Year Stroke Average 1. Paul Casey, 10 1999-2000 69.87 2. Phil Mickelson, 12 1991-92 69.95 3. Phil Mickelson, 11 1990-91 70.08 4. Billy Mayfair, 13 1986-87 70.59 5. Phil Mickelson, 14 1989-90 70.82 6. Chez Reavie, 14 2003-04 71.05 7. Alejandro Canizares, 14 2003-04 71.38 8. Alejandro Canizares, 11 2005-06 71.41 9. Chris Hanell, 13 1996-97 71.44 10. Matt Jones, 12 2000-01 71.46 11. Alejandro Canizares, 14 2004-05 71.65 11. Alejandro Canizares, 8 2002-03 71.65
ASU IN THE WEST REGIONALS: ASU has won or tied for the title in the NCAA West Regional five times and has won the event in three of the past eight 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 T1st *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 T1st Paul Casey (ASU)
1999 ASU 1st Jeff Quinney (ASU)
2000 Arizona T6th Michael Beard (Pepperdine)
2001 ASU 1st Matt Jones (ASU)
Kyle Thompson (South Carolina)
2002 UNM/UW 20th Ricky Barnes (UA)
Justin Smith (Minnesota) 2003 UCLA 5th Michael Letzig (UNM)
2004 UCLA 4th Travis Johnson (UCLA)
2005 UNLV T4th Rob Grube (Stanford)
*Eventual NCAA Champion
PAC-10 HONORS: Senior Alejandro Canizares (Manilva, Spain) and junior Niklas Lemke (Linkoping, Sweden) earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors this year, with Canizares taking home Co-Player of the Year with Stanford's Rob Grube. Benjamin Alvarado Holley was one of just two freshmen honored with first- or second-team honors, as the Santiago, Chile, native earned second-team accolades.
ON THE ASU CHARTS: Alejandro Canizares has captured six tournament championships in his 45-tournament career. Canizares won the 2003 National Invitational in Tucson, the 2003 NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Okla., the 2004 ASU Thunderbird Invitational, the 2005 Big/Ten Pac-10 Challenge at Bandon Dunes, Ore., the 2005 Arizona/Ping Intercollegiate in Tucson and the 2005 Puerto Rico Classic. A look at Canizares on the ASU career wins list:
Rk. Name (Years) Wins 1. Phil Mickelson (1989-92) 16 2. Billy Mayfair (1985-88) 8 3t. Alejandro Canizares (2002-present) 6 3t. Paul Casey (1997-2000) 6 3t. Charlie Gibson (1972-75) 6 6. Todd Demsey (1991-95) 5 7t. Howard Twitty (1970-72) 4 7t. Scott Watkins (1978-79) 4 7t. Dan Croonquist (1976-79) 4 10t. Jeff Quinney (1997-2001) 3 10t. Jim Carter (1981-84) 3 10t. Mark Mattingly (1977-78) 3
REGIONAL STREAK: Counting its appearance in the 18 years a NCAA Regional has been staged (1989-2006), ASU has made 23 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the sixth-longest active streak in the nation. ASU has advanced to the NCAA Championships 21 of the past 22 seasons (1984-2005), missing only in 2002, and in 40 of the past 42 seasons (1964-2005), missing prior to 2002 in 1983.
Longest Active NCAA Tournament Appearance School, Years, NCAA Streak Oklahoma State, 1947-06, 60 USC, 1971-06, 36 Texas, 1978-06, 29 Oklahoma, 1981-06, 26 Clemson, 1982-06, 25 Arizona State, 1984-06, 23 Georgia Tech, 1985-06, 22 *Note: List includes NCAA Championship prior to 1989 and reaching at least NCAA Regionals from 1989-present.
ACADEMICALLY: Arizona State 2006 men's golf graduates Alejandro Canizares (B.I.S., Landscape Architecture/Sociology) and Charly Simon, (B.A., Psychology) became the 41st and 42nd Sun Devils to earn their undergraduate degrees under 14th-year head coach Randy Lein this spring. Canizares, the 2003 NCAA champion, joins top amateur tournament winners Todd Demsey (B.A., psychology in 1995 and 1993 NCAA Champion) and Jeff Quinney (B.S. Finance in 2002 and 2000 U.S. Amateur Champion) as the top names on the list.