University of Washington
NCAA Championships
Husky Golfers Jump to Ninth at NCAA Golf
May 28, 2003 | Men's Golf
May 28, 2003
Stillwater, OK ? Turning in the second best score on the day, the Washington men's golf team climbed 14 positions in the standings to tie for ninth overall after the second round of the NCAA Championships at Oklahoma State's Karsten Creek Golf Club. Led by junior All-American Brock Mackenzie, the Huskies shot 12-over 300 for a two-day total of 614 to tie Minnesota and Arizona State on the leaderboard.
UCLA posted the tournament's best round, a 7-over 295 to take a one-stroke lead over the host Cowboys at 598. Clemson is in third place at 601 while Florida is fourth at 602.
The Huskies tamed the toughest part of the Karsten Creek Course, posting a cumulative four-over score on the back nine, to make their run up the leaderboard.
"That's such a tough side," said Husky senior John Robertson, who shot 5-over 77. "It's really easy to shoot four-over yourself. To do it with four guys total is remarkable. That's a good score."
The Huskies had to do some scrambling over the final three holes to earn themselves a spot into Thursday's afternoon session of the top 15 teams. Robertson, Derek Berg and Mackenzie each managed one birdie during the stretch to offset having to count a pair of bogies and a double bogie.
After playing his first 15 holes almost flawlessly, Mackenzie faced a huge challenge on the 16th hole when he sank a 35-foot putt for bogie. His drive left him having to straddle the edge of the bunker and his approach shot soared across the fairway into a clump of weeds. After chipping out, he left himself with the long putt.
"The hosel was closed when it hit the ground and the ball just took, off on me," Mackenzie said. "I was thinking I might make a lot worse than double bogie on that hole. It got me going again to make that long putt."
Mackenzie finished the round at 1-under 71 and has a two round total of 148 to stand 12th. Auburn's Lee Williams has a four-stroke lead over the rest of the field at 3-under 141. Oklahoma State's Hunter Mahan is second at 144 while North Carolina State's Jason Moon is third at 145.
Mackenzie's under-par round was just the ninth by a player in the first 36 holes of play.
Robertson is tied for 33rd at 8-over 152 while Derek Berg is 63rd at 156 after shooting 77 on Tuesday. Dan Potter, who opened with a 90, rebounded to shoot 77 during the second round to move up to 132nd at 12-over 165. Conner Robbins had a 90 to drop back to 153rd at 29-over 173.
"We talked on the way to the golf course today about what everybody needed to do," said Husky coach Matt Thurmond. "I told Brock he needed to be the guy that really carried us during the final two rounds of the last two regionals we played. I told him he was the guy we needed to count on to have a great round. That's exactly what he did. His 71 here is probably comparable to shooting 67 anywhere else. He carried us today."
Thurmond had high praise for his team's effort on the Karsten Course that inspired the Tulsa World to lead its sports section with the headline "NCAA Up the Creek."
"I can't remember a college tournament on a tougher course," he said. "And this is just a tough golf course and not tough conditions. The greens could be faster. The rough could be longer and the wind can blow harder. It's just like a U.S. Open."
With two rounds left to play, the competitors have the feeling this tournament is far from over.
"This is probably the toughest course I've played and that's under perfect conditions," Mackenzie said. "I can't imagine if there were high winds out here. Breaking 80 would be a really good score. This is basically a U.S. Open type of course. This is a strong test and by the end of the week the best teams are going to rise to the top."
"We finished our round and went inside to see the update and had to laugh," Potter said. "Here we've had two guys shoot 90 and we're sitting here in ninth place. That's unheard of. Over four days the strokes are going to add up here more and more. They're going to run out of room on the scoreboard because there are going to be teams in triple digits after a while."
Washington will tee of at 12:45 p.m. CST from the 10th tee during the third round with Arizona and Arizona State.
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Karsten Creek Golf Club
Stillwater, OK
Par 72, 7095 yards
Team Results
1 UCLA 303 295 598 2 Oklahoma State 299 300 599 3 Clemson 299 302 601 4 Florida 302 300 602 4 Auburn 299 303 602 6 Wake Forest 304 306 610 7 Southern California 300 311 611 8 UNLV 313 300 613 9 Minnesota 305 309 614 9 Arizona State 306 308 614 9 Washington 314 300 614 12 Arizona 307 308 615 13 Georgia Tech 310 306 616 13 North Carolina 308 308 616 13 North Carolina State 299 317 616 16 Augusta State 311 306 617 16 Wichita State 308 309 617 18 Texas 306 314 620 19 Georgia 315 306 621 20 New Mexico 309 314 623 20 Oregon 323 300 623 22 Illinois 304 320 624 23 Duke 300 326 626 24 Tennessee 320 310 630 25 Kentucky 309 323 632 26 Vanderbilt 320 313 633 27 SMU 316 319 635 28 Arkansas 314 326 640 29 South Carolina 313 331 644 30 San Diego State 323 327 650
Washington Results
12 Brock Mackenzie 77 71 178 33 John Robertson 75 77 152 63 Derek Berg 79 77 156 132 Dan Potter 90 77 165 153 Conner Robbins 83 90 173
Individual Leaders
1 Lee Williams, Auburn 69 72 141 2 Hunter Mahan, Oklahoma State 73 71 144 3 Jason Moon, North Carolina State 72 73 145 4 Alejandro Canizares, Arizona State 77 70 147 4 David Denham, Georgia 74 73 147 4 Jason Hartwick, Texas 77 70 147 4 John Merrick, UCLA 75 72 147 4 Ryan Moore, UNLV 76 71 147 4 Matthew Rosenfeld, Texas 71 76 147 4 Mike Sica, Oregon, U. of 73 74 147 4 Chris Stroud, Lamar University 70 77 147 12 John Holmes, Kentucky, U. of 72 76 148 12 Travis Johnson, UCLA 74 74 148 12 Brock Mackenzie, Washington 77 71 148 15 Ricky Barnes, Arizona 75 74 149 15 Jack Ferguson, Clemson 73 76 149 15 Roy Moon, UCLA 76 73 149 15 Richard Treis, North Carolina 75 74 149 15 Oliver Wilson, Augusta State 70 79 149
