UW Golfers Finish Third at West Regional
May 21, 2005
Stanford, CA - The Washington men's golf team finished third at the NCAA West Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships for the seventh consecutive year. Seeded 10th, the Huskies finished the 54-hole tournament at 14-over 854, eight strokes behind regional champion UNLV. New Mexico was second at 849.
The Huskies will play for the national championship June 1-4 at Caves Valley Country Club just outside of Baltimore. Last year Washington placed sixth at the NCAA Championships. The Huskies will be joined from the West Regional field by UCLA, Arizona State, BYU, San Diego State, Arizona and Stanford. Pepperdine South Carolina and USC will playoff for the 10th spot.
The Huskies were led on the final day of play by junior James Lepp, who shot 2-under 68. Lepp started his final round with a birdie but was 2-over par following a double bogie on the 14th hole. He then birdied the final four holes on the Stanford Golf Course to finish 25th overall at 5-over 215.
Sophomore Erik Olson, the Pac-10 Champion, was UW's top overall finisher in 10th place at 1-over 211. Olson had rounds of 69, 70 and 72. His 2-over score on Saturday marked the first time in his last seven rounds he did not shoot par or better. The regional marked his fifth top-10 showing this year.
Classmate Alex Prugh was 12th overall, one stroke behind Olson at 2-over 212. Prugh shot 71, 70 and 71. Freshman Joe Panzeri recorded his best tournament score as a collegian by finishing 49th at 8-over 218. Fellow first-year player Zach Bixler was 97th at 226.
The top 10 team from each of the three regional tournaments make up the field for the NCAA Championship. Qualifying from the East were Wake Forest, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Georgia State, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Coastal Carolina, Duke and Georgia Southern. The Central Regional qualified teams from Augusta State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, SMU, Texas and Purdue.
Only four other teams, Arizona, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State can match Washington's streak of seven straight NCAA Championship appearances.
NCAA West Regional Championship
Stanford Golf Course
Par 70, 6,742 yards
Final Round Results
Team Results1. UNLV 281-277-288-846 2. New Mexico 284-284-281-849 3. Washington 286-282-286-854 4. UCLA 288-288-281-857 4. Arizona State 290-281-286-857 6. Brigham Young 278-284-296-858 7. San Diego State 286-290-284-860 8. Arizona 283-296-284-863 8. Stanford 289-291-283-863 10. Pepperdine 279-292-293-864 10. USC 286-292-286-864 10. South Carolina 289-288-287-864 13. Auburn 290-293-284-869 14. St. Mary's 295-285-290-870 14. Oregon 292-298-280-870 16. Denver 294-296-283-873 17. UC Riverside 295-290-297-882 18. South Alabama 295-297-291-883 19. Fresno State 295-299-292-886 20. Colorado State 303-299-285-890 21. Texas-Arlington 297-310-294-898 22. Cal Poly-SLO 297-307-297-901 23. Illinois State 303-309-292-904 24. Louisiana State 294-301-311-906 25. Princeton 306-301-301-908 26. Samford 312-302-299-913 27. Central Conn. State 302-317-301-920
Individual Leaders 1. Rob Grube, Stanford 69-70-65-204 2. Kevin Chappell, UCLA 71-67-69-207 2. Nathan Lashley, Arizona 66-72-69-207 4. Oscar Alvarez, Brigham Young 63-71-74-208 5. Pat Moore, Arizona State 69-69-71-209 6. Spencer Levin, New Mexico 72-71-67-210 6. Ryan Moore, UNLV 69-69-72-210 6. Madalitso Muthiya, New Mexico 69-71-70-210 6. Gilberto Rodriguez, San Diego St. 69-74-67-210 10. Erik Olson, Washington 69-70-72-211 10. Gregg LaVoie, Oregon 70-70-71-211
Washington Results 10. Erik Olson 69-70-72-211 12. Alex Prugh 71-70-71-212 25. James Lepp 72-75-68-215 49. Joe Panzeri 74-69-75-218 97. Zach Bixler 78-73-76-226
