May 15, 2008
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Pac-10 Champion Arizona State is tied for 17th after shooting a 16-over-par 304 after the first round of the NCAA Men's Golf West Regional held in Bremerton, Wash., at the Gold Mountain Golf Course. Four Pac-10 teams lead the way, as Oregon is at 1-over 289 and host Washington, USC and UCLA are at 3-over 291.
The top 10 teams advance to the NCAA Championships held in West Lafayette May 28-21, and ASU with two rounds to go is five shots out of tenth and is tied for 17th with four teams.
ASU was led by freshman James Byrne, who is tied for 19th at 1-over 73. All-Pac-10 first-team selection and classmate Jesper Kennegard shot a 4-over 76 (tied for 64th).
Sophomore Braxton Marquez shot a 5-over 77 and is tied for 82nd. Sophomore Stephan Gross is tied for 132nd at 10-over 182.
ASU has won or tied for the West Regional title five times (three of the past 10 seasons) and has tied for third the past two seasons.
NOTING THE TEAMS: The 2008 NCAA West Regional features 15 teams ranked in the Top-50 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. That list includes third-ranked USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 Florida State, No. 15 UNLV, No. 18 Clemson, No. 19 Arizona State, No. 24 Texas Tech, No. 30 North Carolina, No. 33 Texas, No. 35 Pepperdine, No. 37 San Diego State, No. 41 LSU, No. 42 California, and No. 44 Oregon State...the regional field includes six conference champions in Florida State (ACC), Arizona State (Pac-10), San Diego (West Coast), Denver (Sun Belt), Navy (Patriot League) and Columbia (Ivy League)...Stanford is the defending NCAA team champion, winning the 2007 team title by 12 strokes over Georgia...the regional field also includes eight Pac-10 teams.
ASU IN THE WEST REGIONALS: ASU has won or tied for the title in the NCAA West Regional five times.
NCAA West Regional Champions Year Champ ASU Individual Champion 1989 Arizona 2nd Robert Gamez (Arizona) 1990 UNLV 3rd* Hub Goyen (UNLV) 1991 ASU/UA T1st *Warren Schutte (UNLV) 1992 Arizona* 2nd Harry Rudolph (Arizona) 1993 Arizona 2nd Manny Zerman (Arizona) 1994 UNLV 2nd Edward Fryatt (UNLV) 1995 ASU 1st Mike Sauer (New Mexico) 1996 Stanford 2nd* *Tiger Woods (Stanford) 1997 UNLV 2nd Aaron Oberholser (SJ St.) 1998 ASU/UNM T1st Paul Casey (ASU) 1999 ASU 1st Jeff Quinney (ASU) 2000 Arizona T6th Michael Beard (Pepperdine) 2001 ASU 1st Matt Jones (ASU), Kyle Thompson (South Carolina) 2002 UNM/UW 20th Ricky Barnes (UA), Justin Smith (Minnesota) 2003 UCLA 5th Michael Letzig (UNM) 2004 UCLA 4th Travis Johnson (UCLA) 2005 UNLV T4th Rob Grube (Stanford) 2006 Florida/UA T3rd Billy Horschel (Florida), Casey Watabu (Nevada) 2007 South Carolina T3rd Benjamin Alvarado Holley (ASU) *Eventual NCAA Champion
START IT OVER: Back in 2002, ASU head coach Randy Lein saw ASU's 18-year NCAA championship consecutive streak snapped in a season that had injuries and some bad luck. ASU is back in the saddle with five straight appearances, and to show you how competitive the NCAA men's golf champioships is, that five-year streak already was tied for the sixth-best active streak entering this season. Arizona had a 21-year streak snapped this year as it did not make NCAA Regional play after finishing under .500.
Rk., School, Years, Current Streak
1. Oklahoma State, 1947-2007, 61
2. Arizona, 1987-2007, 21 (ended in 2008)
T3. Georgia Tech, 1998-2007, 10
T3. Georgia, 1998-2007, 10
5. Florida, 2001-2007, 7
T6. Arizona State, 2003-2007, 5
T6. UCLA, 2003-2007, 5
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES: ASU has made 14 NCAA Championship appearances in Randy Lein's 15 years (1993-2007), tied for the third-best mark in the nation.
MOST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES (1993-2007)
Oklahoma State, Arizona-15
Arizona State, Florida-14
Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Clemson-13
Wake Forest, New Mexico, UNLV-12
Auburn, Texas-11
Georgia-10
UCLA, Minnesota-9