FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State golf is coming off a tournament win at the Inaugural Alister Mackenzie Invitational earlier in the week and with that came a fourth consecutive individual title for senior Nick Watney (Dixon, Calif.).
The early season success has yielded a No. 1 national ranking for Watney in both the Golfstat Cups Standings and the GolfWeek/Sagarin
Performance Index, which was released today.
The two-time GCAA Ping All-American has nine tournament wins in his career with 29 Top 10 finishes. Already a two-time qualifier for the
U.S. Amateur, Watney enters his senior year with an all-time scoring average of 71.53.
Setting the school's single-season scoring record (70.53) last year, the 2000-01 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year guided the
Bulldogs to a third place showing at the NCAA Championships as a junior.
Watney, who has a season scoring average of 68.67, is challenging for a new national scoring average. Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech was the
individual statistical winner in the GolfStat Cup standings last season with a 69.43. Other previous winners include Charles Howell (1999-2000) of Oklahoma State (69.57), Luke Donald (1998-99) of Northwestern (70.45), Matt Kuchar (1997-98) of Georgia Tech (70.80), Chris Hanell
(1996-97) of Arizona State (71.44) and Tiger Woods (1995-96) of Stanford (70.61).
-- Jan Winslow, FS