Also Nominated:
Behind a strong swing, Nevadas Carlos Concha tied for seventh at the Oregon Duck Classic last week. Carding rounds of 74- 69-75--218, Concha led all Wolf Pack golfers to a sixth-place team finish in the 17-team field.
For the third consecutive tournament, Rice freshman Scott Philips posted a top-five peformance to lead the Owls at the Arkansas-Little Rock Intercollegiate. Opening the competition with a career and tournament-best 67, Philips went on to finish fourth with a 217 total, just three strokes back of the individual medallist. In 19 of his last 20 rounds, Philips has shot 75 or lower, while bringing his stroke average down to 73.88.
Six times SMUs top finisher this season, including the last three tournaments, Franklin Hatchett let his clubs do the work in his second-place showing at the Texas Morris Williams Invite in Austin, Texas last week. Just two strokes back of collegiate golfs No. 1 player Bryce Molder, Hatchett played competitively, carding a 69-68--137 to earn runner-up honors.
Western Athletic Conference Divots:
Continuing to dominate in his freshman campaign, Rices Scott Philips is the first Owl golfer to post three straight top-five finishes in the last 20 years.
Weather shortened the Morris Williams Invite in Austin, Texas last week but not before two rounds could be played. Continuing to put together top-five finishes, Fresno States Nick Watney tied for fifth, finishing behind SMUs Franklin Hatchett who placed second. The Mustangs placed ninth, one spot ahead of Fresno State. TCU, ranked fourth, struggled during the 36-hole, par 72 tournament, closing out the tournament with a 14th-place showing. It marked just the third time in nine events that the squad did not place in the top five. In five of their first seven outings, the Frogs earned top-three finishes.
A trio of Tulsa freshmen led the way for the Hurricane at the Stevison Ranch Invitational last week. Logan Goettsch carded a 71-73-80--224 to finish tied for fourth in the 75 golfer field, while Chris Noel was at the top of the leaderboad with a tenth-place effort, (6-72-80=228). On fire this spring, David Inglis earned another top-20 finish, posting a 78-73-78--229 to finish tied for 16th.
Nevada found success during the two-day 54-hole Oregon Duck Invitational, as junior Carlos Concha tied for seventh and teammate and fellow junior Mike Haack tied for ninth as Nevada placed sixth in the 17-team field. San Jose State fell two spots to 11th during the final round to finish behind Hawaii, who was ninth and kept the Spartans from attaining their first top-10 finish of the spring season. Amind adverse weather conditions San Jose States Nate Whitson posted his third top-10 finish of the season tying for ninth place at 219. For Hawaii sophomore Justin Kim paced the team, carding a final round 74 to move into a tie for 23rd.
Behind the medalist performance of Nathan Fritz, UTEP captured its first team title since 1997, winning the Anteater Invitational at the SCPGA Champions Course in Calimesa, Calif. Not since Oct. 10-11, 1997 when UTEP won the Wimberly Classic in Las Cruces had the Miners earned a tournament trophy.
April 2-3 San Jose State, Nevada, Hawaii and Fresno State will tee off at the 55th annual Western Intercollegiate, the longest running college golf tournament west of the Mississippi River.
Eight top 50 teams including Stanford (#35), California (#44), Kansas (#34), Nevada (#42), Oregon (#31), Pepperdine (#46), San Diego State (#41) and Washington (#36) will participate in the event. UC Irvine (#58), UC Santa Barbara (#80), Long Beach State (#71), Fresno State (#61), Hawaii (#63), Oregon State (#52), Ohio State (#70), Pacific (#86), host San Jose State (#113) and Santa Clara (#114) complete the field.
Fresno State is the defending champion after setting a tournament record last year on the par 70, 6,445-yard course. The Bulldogs posted a two-under par 838 team score. Sophomore Nick Watney, Golf Worlds "National Player of the Week" for the week of March 30, is the only returnee from last years Fresno State team.
Watney, ranked 23rd nationally by GolfStat, is one of eight golfers ranked in the top-100 who are scheduled to play in the tournament. Travis Hurst (#52) of Kansas, John Lieber (#62) and Lars Johansson (#67) of San Diego State, Michael Beard (#78) of Pepperdine, John Hallinger (#88) of Long Beach State, Anthony Arvidson (#94) of Oregon State and Philip Rowe (#97) of Stanford also are nationally-ranked golfers.