2007 Husky Invitational
October 02, 2007 | Men's Golf
Oct. 2, 2007
Head Coach Matt Thurmond
On the tournament: "It was a great tournament and I am just so thankful to Gold Mountain and everyone who was involved. I think all of the student-athletes from all of the teams had a really great experience."
On his players' performances: "We didn't play great but we fought hard. I am really proud of the way we finished. What excited me most is that today they really believed that they were going to win the tournament. Every team says that all the time and I hear that every time that we are not in first going into the final round, but they really meant it more than I have seen my teams mean it for awhile and that really excited me this morning.
On the weather: "It definitely shortened the tournament. We've had this tournament for the last seven or eight years and we've never had a drop of rain. It's just unfortunate that one of the big storms came this weekend. We still had a good event and yesterday was nice. We just got so much rain on Sunday that the course was too saturated to hold the water that came today."
Volunteer Assistant Coach (& Gold Mountain GC Director of Golf) Scott Alexander
On the players' performances: "From my perspective, late yesterday the team showed a lot of intestinal fortitude. They had slipped to about sixth place and they carded four or five birdies in the last few holes and went from there to second. There was a big difference that Coach [Thurmond] and I talked about. I thought they really stepped up their game at the end which is great for a young team and will bode well down the road."
On his first college coaching experience: "I loved it. I told Coach Thurmond that it is not easy. You are out there and you are dying with every shot and you can't show your emotions, but it is fun and I love it and it gets my juices flowing. It is not easy by any means, but I enjoyed it very, very much."
Washington Senior Zach Bixler
On the tournament: "I feel good about the team's finish. We are really young, so we don't really have a lot of expectations and I think that second is a good start for us this year."
On his play: "I played good and it is just the start for me. I think that I am going to have a really good year."
On his preparations during the summer: "I basically did the same thing the last two summers, and I've had really good summers but for whatever reason I haven't done as well. I'm trying not to think too much about things like during the summer."
On his role as the senior leader of the team: "I have definitely taken on a bigger role since [former Assistant Coach Jon] Reehoorn is gone. I am taking on the challenge."
Oregon State Coach Brian Watts
"James (Allenby) has been playing really well the last three weeks. Two weeks ago, in our own tournament, we saw a lot of what we saw here in the Husky Invitational. It was just a matter of making some putts and hitting it close. He did that. He pretty much played flawless golf for 36 holes and was very impressive on a very difficult golf course. What made it particularly impressive was that he played so well under not very good conditions. I'm extremely proud of him and I see a bright future for him.
"When we came up here, we knew the weather wasn't going to be the best. So, we mentally tried to prepare for that as much as possible. I really think that playing the practice round on Saturday in the pouring down rain and in tough conditions played to our advantage. The guys know how to play in that weather because we play in it quite a bit down in Corvallis anyway. Just having that opportunity to see the golf course and having that expectation of what we were going to need to do to be successful was good for our team. We are trying to give ourselves every opportunity to prepare for success.
We have played two tournaments and were fortunate to win both of them. This is a great way to start the year. You never want to peak too early, but coming off the summer everybody is playing well and it makes it a little easier to get into the flow of things. Coming out of winter is a little more difficult, we usually get off to a little bit slower start.
The guys are all committed to what they are going and they are enjoying it. I think we will have a good season."
Oregon State Senior James Allenby
On the tournament: "Today I just had to hit one shot and make two putts so that was fairly stress-free. I didn't really have to do any bearing down work to get the win because yesterday was just like a typical 36 holes to get you into contention to play the final round. It was fairly routine; I just played really well and made a lot of putts."
On his first tournament win: "I feel great. It is nice; you get a lot of people shaking your hand. It took some time but it was always there."
