No. 8 Seed Huskies On The Road To The Riviera
May 25, 2012
• Follow the Huskies on the Road to the Riviera
• UW NCAA Championship Notes 
HUSKY LINEUP
Husky Coach Matt Thurmond is going with the same lineup he featured at the NCAA Regional in Norman that contains a mix of veterans and underclassmen. Headlining the Husky fivesome are junior Chris Williams and freshman Cheng-Tsung Pan; both members of the 2012 All-Pac-12 First Team. Junior Charlie Hughes is a tested veteran of three NCAA regionals, one NCAA Championship and was a 2nd-team all-conference selection last year as a sophomore. Sophomore Trevor Simsby has established himself as a mainstay in the Husky lineup and senior Ty Chambers is in the lineup for the fifth time this season and is the only senior of the group.
HUSKIES IN THE RANKINGS
Washington is currently ranked 8th by Golfstat.com and 11th in the Golfweek.com/Sagarin rankings. Individually, Williams is currently ranked fourth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and fifth on Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings, while Pan is 14th and 11th on the respective lists. Golfweek.com/Sagarin rates Williams No. 5 and Pan No. 26 among the nation's top college golfers. On Golfstat.com, Williams is 6th and Pan 17th. Both were semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award. Simsby is 128th in the Golfweek.com/Sagarin rankings.
THE COURSE
The 2012 NCAA Men's Golf Championship will be played at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. from May 29 through June 3. The course features a par-71, George C. Thomas design that stretches to 7,292 yards from the championship tees. Nicknamed "Hogan's Alley" after Ben Hogan won the 1947 and 1948 Los Angeles Open and the 1948 U.S. Open at the Club within a span of 18 months, the course has also played host to the 1983 & 1995 PGA Championship and the 1998 U.S. Senior Open. The Club has also hosted the PGA Tour's Los Angeles Open since 1929.
• The Riviera Country Club official website
TICKETS
All session tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.usctrojans.com. Single day tickets are also available for $10.
• Buy Tickets
LIVE COVERAGE
Live scoring will be available on the internet at www.ncaa.com. Tournament recaps, results and post-round notes and quotes also can be found at www.gohuskies.com.
LIVE VIDEO
Video will be available, Thursday-Sunday. Here are links:
• Thursday...Click here
• Friday...Click here
• Saturday...Click here
• Sunday...Click here
THE FIELD
1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. California
4. Auburn
5. UCLA
6. USC
7. Oregon
8. Washington
9. Stanford
10. San Diego State
11. North Florida
12. Texas A&M
13. Virginia
14. Liberty
15. Chattanooga
16. Kent State
17. Florida
18. Florida State
19. UCF
20. Georgia
21. Iowa
22. Oklahoma
23. East Carolina
24. Illinois
25. UAB
26. TCU
27. Memphis
28. Virginia Tech
29. Lamar
30. Tulsa
INDIVIDUALS
1. Josh Anderson, Pepperdine
2. Nate McCoy, Iowa State
3. Vaita Guillaume, Campbell
4. Albin Choi, North Carolina St.
5. Jonathan De Los Reyes, St. Mary's
6. Phillip Chian, Long Beach St.
UW WINS SOUTWEST REGIONAL IN NORMAN
Chris Williams eagled the 18th hole to earn medalist honors and Washington held off a final-round charge from top-ranked Texas to take home the team title at the NCAA Southwest Regional. The third-seeded Huskies were 5-over-par 293 during the final round at a blustery Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course in Norman, Okla. No. 1 seed Texas shot 292 on Saturday but could not catch the Huskies, who had a five shot advantage entering the final round. Washington ended up -4 for the tournament (860) to win by four shots over the Longhorns. The win was the teams third ever NCAA Regional title (2012, 2010, 2002) and Williams joins Richard Lee (2010) as the Huskies only Regional medalist.
HUSKIES CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Washington has become a mainstay in the NCAA Championship since Matt Thrumond took over as head coach in 2001-02. In Thurmond's 11 years, the Huskies have now made it to nine championships. They have finished 11th or better in stroke play in each of those championships, including a third-place finish in 2005 and 2009. The Huskies have twice made it to match play since the format changed, but have dropped quarterfinal decisions to Arkansas (2009) and Oregon (2010). Prior to Thurmond's arrival, Washington participated in just three championships. The Huskies have failed to advance to the championship just twice under Thurmond (2011 and 2007).
HOGAN AWARD SEMIFINALISTS
For the first time in program history, the Huskies had a pair of golfer that were Ben Hogan Award semifinalists. Both Williams and freshman Cheng-Tsung Pan made the cut. The Huskies, Oregon and Texas all had two semifinalists. Neither Williams or Pan made the finals. UW has a history of winning the award though when Nick Taylor won in 2010, the same season Williams was tabbed the nation's finest freshman by winning the Phil Mickelson Award.
HUSKY HONORS
Washington was well represented on the list of Pac-12 All-Conference award winners. Both Williams and Pan were first team selections. It was the second time Williams has earned first team recognition after he was second team as a freshman. Pan is just the second UW freshman to ever earn first team all-conference honors, joining current PGA Tour pro Troy Kelly (1999). In all, Washington has had 13 first team selections under the direction of Thurmond.
WILLIAMS REPRESENTING THE U.S.
For the second consecutive year, Williams has been selected to represent the United States team at the Palmer Cup. The 2012 version of the annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 28-30 at The Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. It marks the third time Williams will represent the U.S. in international play. The Moscow, Idaho native was 2-0-2 at the 2011 Palmer Cup in which the Americans defeated the Europeans 13-11 at the Sandwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 1-1 in 2011 Walker Cup action at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club where the Great Britain and Ireland squad that took home the Cup. Williams and Brock Mackenzie (2002) are the only Huskies to ever play in the Palmer Cup. Thurmond coached the American team in 2009.
HUSKIES IN THE PROS
Currently a pair of Huskies are playing on the PGA Tour and several are on the Nationwide and Canadian Tours. Richard Lee, a 2010 All-American, and Troy Kelly are both cutting their teeth on the PGA circuit this summer. Lee is a rookie, while Kelly is in his second season after touring with the PGA in 2009. Alex Prugh is on the Nationwide Tour this year, but has played in 58 PGA events during his pro career. Zach Bixler, Brock Mackenzie, Joe Panzeri, Nick Taylor and Darren Wallace will all play on the Canadian Tour this summer and have been seen in several Nationwide events this year.
