University of Washington
The Gifford Collegiate (Purple)
Dawgs Win Gifford Collegiate In Dominating Fashion
November 05, 2015 | Men's Golf
Live Scoring
CARLSBAD, Calif. – In their final tournament of the fall, Washington finished off a dominating performance at the Gifford Collegiate at the Legends Course at La Costa, winning by nine strokes. The Huskies shot the low round of the day for the third-straight round, firing a 2-over 286 to finish at 6-under 846 for the week.
The win was the second of the fall for Washington who also tied Oregon for the team title at the Husky Invitational back in September. The Dawgs had not won multiple fall tournaments since way back in 2001 when that team won three times (The Prestige at Desert Willow, The Nelson at Stanford and the Husky Invitational at Gold Mountain).
The win was the 33rd for Washington since Matt Thurmond took over as head coach and the 74th in program history.
“This is a huge win for our team,” said Thurmond. “This is a huge event and I've always wanted our team to win it. It was started by a great man, Jack Gifford, along with one of our Husky family in O.D. Vincent. It's a special event.”
In addition to the team win, Corey Pereira and Chris Babcock tied for the individual win with Maverick McNealy of Stanford who is currently the No. 1 ranked player in college golf. The win was the second of the fall for Pereira and third of his Husky career. For Babcock it was his first collegiate win.
Pereira becomes just the sixth Husky to win at least three tournaments, joining the greats of Washington golf that include Cheng-Tsung Pan, Chris Williams, Brock Mackenzie, Nick Taylor and O.D. Vincent.
Washington prevailed over a field that included nine teams ranked in the top-50. No. 5 Stanford finished second at 3-over, followed by No. 43 San Diego State at 13-over, No. 28 UCLA at 14-over and No. 41 Arkansas at 16-over.
“Our team won because of how they competed,” said Thurmond. “They played with so much will and focus and desire. They gave it everything they've got and now can enjoy the fruits of all their work.”
Individually, Pereira and Babcock finished at 4-under 209 for the week, tying with McNealy and one shot better than Jonathan Garrick of UCLA who was fourth at 3-under. Husky sophomore Frank Garber tied for fifth with David Boote of Stanford at 1-under as only six players were under par for the tournament.
“Corey was amazing and I don't want to take anything away from him, but I am so thrilled for Chris,” said Thurmond. “He has come so far. To see his smile and joy after winning makes my month.”
Babcock had the low round of the day for the Huskies, shooting a 2-under 69. He made six more birdies on the day, giving him 14 for the week, tying Garber and Philip Juel-Berg of Colorado for the most in the field. It was a remarkable turn of events for the Washington senior who had not even played in the Husky lineup yet this season and not since last year at the Pac-12 Championships when he was sixth of six players on the team.
Pereira led coming into the final round and hung in there to shoot 1-over 72 on Wednesday. He made 11 birdies on the week, but also only seven bogeys. The junior also led the field in par-four scoring at 4-under for the tournament.
Garber also had a big week for the Huskies, shooting an even-par 71 in the final round. His T-5th finish was his best since last April when he won the Redhawk Invitational at Chambers Bay.
“Garber had an amazing tournament too,” said Thurmond. “This validates what we've been doing with our Purple and Gold squads. It's such a great way to enter our offseason.”
The final scorer for the Huskies was freshman Carl Yuan who shot 3-over 74. He finished tied for 24th for the week at 6-over.
In that same tie for 24th was Jonathan Sanders after he shot 5-over 76 on Wednesday and was the score thrown out.
Playing as an individual, Matt Marrese shot 74 for his final round and finished tied for 41st.
The win at the Gifford ends the fall season for the Huskies and gives them great momentum heading to the winter. Washington begins the spring season on January 29 when they compete in the Arizona Intercollegiate.
