Williams, Pan Named First Team All-Pac-12 Golfers
May 7, 2012
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Washington golfers Chris Williams and Cheng-Tsung Pan were named to the All-Pac-12 First Team on Monday, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced.
For the Williams, it is the second consecutive year he has been named to the first team. The junior from Moscow, Idaho was second team all-conference as a freshman when he was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Williams led or tied as the team's top finisher in eight events this year. His scoring average of 70.24 currently ranks No. 1 all-time in UW single-season history. He has six top-10 finishes, including one victory at the Bandon Dunes Championship. That win was the fifth of Williams' career, the most in Husky history.
Pan is just the second Husky freshman to be named to the all-conference first team, joining current PGA Tour pro Troy Kelly (1999). He is second on the team with a 71.07 scoring average, which ranks among the top-five averages in UW single-season history. Pan, from Bradenton, Fla. via Miaoli County, Taiwan, had five top-10 finishes during the season, including a victory at the Prestige at PGA WEST in just his second college tournament. He was the Huskies top finisher in two events and tied Williams for top honors at two other tournaments.
Both golfers are among the world's top amateurs. Williams is currently ranked sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, while Pan is 13th. Golfweek.com/Sagarin rates Williams No. 7 and Pan No. 32 among the nation's top college golfers. Williams was recently named a member of Team USA for the Palmer Cup.
In all, Huskies have been named to the first or second team 30 times in team history. UW golfers have earned first team honors 15 times, 12 of which have come during Coach Matt Thurmond's 11 years of leading the program.
Oregon's Eugene Wong was named the Pac-12 Golfer of the Year, Stanford's Patrick Rodgers was Freshman of the Year and California's Steve Desimone was Coach of the Year. Washington and Oregon were the only teams to have multiple players on the first team.
Pac-12 All-Conference Teams
First Team
Patrick Cantlay, Soph., UCLA
Steve Lim, Sr., USC
Daniel Miernick, Sr., Oregon
Cheng-Tsung Pan, Fr., Washington
Patrick Rodgers, Fr., Stanford
Chris Williams, Jr., Washington
Eugene Wong, Sr., Oregon
Andrew Yun, Jr., Stanford
Second Team
Pedro Figueiredo, Jr., UCLA
Brandon Hagy, So., California
Max Homa, Jr., California
Jeffrey Kang, So., USC
Alex Kim, Sr., UCLA
Michael Kim, Fr., California
Pontus Widegren, Jr., UCLA
Cameron Wilson, So., Stanford
Honorable Mention: Anton Arboleda, So., UCLA; Mario Clemens, Jr., UCLA; Anthony Paolucci, Fr., USC; Sam Smith, Jr., USC; Joel Stalter, So., CAL; Martin Trainer, USC; Andrew Vijarro, Sr., ORE.
