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Related Material
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Boise State.pdf
Fresno State.pdf
Hawaii.pdf
Louisiana Tech.pdf
Nevada.pdf
Rice.pdf
San Jose State.pdf
SMU.pdf
UTEP.pdf
Tulsa.pdf
WAC History.pdf
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DENVER - The 41st annual Western Athletic Conference mens golf championship is May 3-5 at the
San Joaquin Country Club in Fresno, Calif. Tulsa is looking to defend its WAC title from a year ago. Tulsa senior David Inglis is looking for a career sweep, as he has won the last three WAC titles. Inglis edged Fresno State All-American Nick Watney for the title in 2003, using three playoff holes.
Tee Times
Click on the .pdfs to the right to view tournament information on your favorite teams and WAC history.
Boise State junior Graham DeLaet has won four tournaments this season, including the first three of the spring season. DeLaet has a school record seven tournament victories for his career. DeLaet finished tied for fifth at the 2003 WAC Championship, and earned second-team all-WAC honors. Sophomore Adam Choy has seven top 20 finishes in eight tournaments for the Broncos, including a fifth-place finish at the Diablo Grande Intercollegiate. Senior Mike DeBoard has returned to the Broncos five-man travel team this spring after missing the fall with an injury. Boise State has five top-five team finishes including a pair of seconds and thirds.
Fresno State won its third WAC golf title in 2003, its second in the past four seasons. The Bulldogs are led this season by senior Chad Spencer and junior Ryan Carter. Even with the departure of All-American Nick Watney to graduation, Fresno State has placed in the top nine in eight tournaments thus far. Freshman Dan Buell was named WAC Golfer of the Week, March 22-28. He played a standout final round at the 58th Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif., shooting a 64, one stroke away from tying the tournament record, moving him up from 53rd to tie for ninth place. The Bulldogs won the St. Croix Collegiate as they were paced by Spencer, who fired rounds of 71-68-75 and was named tournament champion after winning a playoff.
Hawaii hosted two tournaments this season, the Hawaii/Turtle Bay Intercollegiate in November and the John Burns Intercollegiate in February. Hawaii, along with South Carolina, were crowned co-champions of the UH/Turtle Bay Intercollegiate with a score of 891. Senior Matt Kodama has finished in the top 10 in seven of 10 tournaments this season, including all five fall events. He earned his second career tournament title, taking home the Ping Cougar Classic, birdieng the first hole in a playoff. Kodama leads the team in stroke average and is ranked among the top 40 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and ranks third in the nation by Golfstat in par 5 scoring.
Louisiana Tech finished tied for fourth in the Lindsey Classic, marking its best finish of the season. The Bulldogs had only two rounds over 80 at the Lindsey Classic, with Derek Busby hitting a first-round 80 before following with rounds of 74 and 78, and Preston Smith shooting an 82 third round while playing with a fever in windy weather conditions. Smith shot a 74 and 71 in the first two rounds of the tourney. Louisiana Techs best individual finish of the season came in the first tournament of the year as Preston Smith finished tied for ninth at 218 (+2) at the Moe OBrien Invitational in Lake Charles, La. Preston Smith also has Techs lowest round of the season, a 65 in the third and final round of the Moe OBrien Classic.
Nevada posted three-straight top 10 finishes in the spring at the Steve Kerr Invitational, Oregon Duck Invitational and Bite/Pacific Coast Intercollegiate. Junior Casey Watabu has been the Wolf Packs most consistent player all season. Sophomore John Cassidy, a transfer from Tacoma C.C., ranks second on the team in scoring average at 73.8 strokes per round. Cassidy has posted eight rounds of even par or better golf thus far this season. Nevadas best finish this season was fifth out of 14 teams at the Oregon Duck Invitational. The Packs best 54-hole score came in back-to-back tournaments at the Wolf Pack Classic and Fresno State Lexus Classic. Nevada shot even par 864 in both tournaments.
Rices Matt Toohey has the teams season low-round with a 68 in the final round of the Roadrunner Classic. Ryan Morgan shot a 70 during round two of the Roadrunner Classic and Scott Philips shot a 71, also in round two of the Roadrunner Classic. Toohey also sports Rices lowest tournament score with a 215 at the Bearkat Invitational. Philips is next with a 217 at the Roadrunner Invitational, followed by Winn Smiths 218 at the Bearkat Invitational and a 219 by Morgan at the Roadrunner Invitational. Philips leads the Owls with a 74.83 stroke average, while Morgan follows at 75.33. Rices season-low performance is 882 at the Bearkat Invitational. Rices top two finishes this season have been fourth out of 16 teams at the Bearkat Invitational (882) and fifth out of 17 teams at the Roadrunner Classic (886).
San Jose States best tournament this season was a five-under par, fifth-place finish at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in Fairfax, Calif. The Spartans under-par team score was a first by the team since Nancy Lewis became Director of Golf in 1998. Bryant Reyes is the only team member whose score from each round this season could count towards the team total for the day. Isaac Weintraub, Justin Madison and Alejandro Prieto each have one top-10 finish in 2003-04. Madisons second-place finish at the Santa Clara Invitational is the best individual finish by a Spartan this season. Prieto is the most improved golfer on the team in terms of stroke average. His stroke average in 2003-04 is more than 2.00 less than in 2002-03. Weintraub and Bobby Powers are the two Spartans with a major college tournament victory. Weintraub won the 2001 Santa Clara Invitational, while Powers finished first at the 2002 49er Collegiate Classic.
SMU has won three tournaments during the 2003-04 season and since the beginning of the 2002-03, the Mustangs have won seven. SMU has advanced to the NCAA Championship in two of the past three years as well. SMU won the Louisiana Classic on Mar. 9, marking the third-consecutive year SMU has won the annual event in Lafayette, La. The Mustangs defeated Kansas by one shot. The Mustangs won the Border Olympics on April 3 by seven strokes over second place Baylor. SMU finished the tournament at 12 under-par and led wire-to-wire for its third victory of the year. SMU captured its first victory of the year at the Tulane Invitational back on Feb. 10. The Mustangs finished two strokes clear of nationally-ranked Wake Forest, posting an 868 (+4) total, ahead of Wake Forests 870 (+6).
UTEP senior Chris Baryla was an honorable mention PING All-American in 2003. He has won four tournaments for the Miners. Baryla finished in the top 10 at eight of UTEPs first 10 tournaments this season. He shot a career-low 199 (69-63-67) at the Barona Collegiate Cup/Callaway Invitational. Barylas 69.9 stroke average leads the team in 2003-04. Freshman James Allenby and senior Dan Floyd are tied for second on the squad with 73.6 stroke averages. UTEP Coach Rick Todd was an All-American golfer for the Miners from 1984-86. Last year, he led UTEP to an 11th-place showing at the NCAA West Regional. The Miners were one stroke away from qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Since joining the league in 1996-97, Tulsa has had four WAC individual champions, as senior David Inglis has won the last three WAC individual titles. Tulsa has won nine conference championships, including eight in the Missouri Valley Conference and the 2002 WAC title. Tulsas freshmen class of five players has all competed in at least one tournament. The group of newcomers has combined to place among the top-15 five times this season. Inglis has now placed among the top-20 in 35 of 48 career tournaments, and has 28 top-10 performances, including six tournament victories. In the last three tournaments, Inglis has placed among the top-10 all three times. Tulsas seniors, Inglis and Chris Noel, have played in a combined 93 collegiate tournaments and has placed among the top-20 individuals 55 times, 36 times among the top-10 and has won seven titles.