May 14, 2008
ASU OFF TO NCAA WEST REGIONAL: The Arizona State University men's golf team plays at the NCAA West Regional held May 15-17 (Thursday-Saturday) at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. (par-72, 7,111 yards). The 27 teams and six individuals will play 18 holes on each day. Live scoring of the tournament will be available at www.golfstat.com. The top 10 teams and top two individuals not on those teams will advance to the 2008 NCAA Championships hosted by Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., May 28-31. The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga is the host of the East Regional and Ohio State will play host to the Central Regional. 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. Gold Mountain has served as the site for many of Washington's annual Husky Invitational tournaments, as well as the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links and the 2007 Washington State Amateur.
THE FIELD (IN ORDER OF SEED): No. 1 USC, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 UNLV, No. 7 North Carolina, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 9 Central Florida, No. 10 Arizona State, No. 11 San Diego State, No. 12 Texas, No. 13 LSU, No. 14 Oregon State, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 California, No. 18 St. Mary's, No. 19 Kentucky, No. 20 Wisconsin, No. 21 Washington, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 23 Kansas State, No. 24 San Diego, No. 25 Denver, No. 26 Navy, No. 27 Columbia.
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 HEAD COACH Randy Lein: Randy Lein added the top accolade in collegiate golf in 1995-96 - the NCAA title - to his collection as the Sun Devils won the title in Chattanooga, Tenn., with a three-stroke victory over UNLV at the Honors Course. In his 16th season as ASU's coach, Lein has guided ASU to 41 tournament victories (including a school record six in 1995-96), eight Pac-10 titles, four NCAA West Regional wins and eight top-10 finishes at the NCAAs including the 1996 title. In addition, Lein has tutored NCAA medalists Todd Demsey and Alejandro Canizares and 14 All-Americans (34 occasions): Todd Demsey (3), Chris Hanell (3), Paul Casey (3), Cade Stone, Chris Stutts, Joey Snyder (2), Scott Johnson (2), Darren Angel (2), Jeff Quinney (3), Matt Jones (2), Chez Reavie (3), Alejandro Canizares (4), Niklas Lemke (3) and Benjamin Alvarado Holley (2). He has won Pac-10 Coach-of-the-Year five times (1993, 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000) while at ASU and twice at USC (1980 and 1986). Lein (pronounced "Line") is a 1975 graduate of Cal State Northridge.
TOP FIVE: After 10 tournaments this year, freshmen Jesper Kennegard has posted four top-five finishes. His four top-five finishes is among the best in recent ASU history.
ASU MEN'S GOLF TOP-FIVE FINISHES (2000-2008) Rk. Name, Events, Year, Top 5s 1. Niklas Lemke, 10, 2006-07, 8 2. Matt Jones, 12, 2000-01, 6 2. Paul Casey, 10, 1999-2000, 6 4. Alejandro Canizares, 13, 2005-06, 5 4. Chez Reavie, 14, 2003-04, 5 6. Jesper Kennegard, 10, 2007-08, 4 6. Niklas Lemke, 13, 2005-06, 4
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) School NCAA App. 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
FAST FACT: ASU is the only school to win both the men's and women's golf titles in the same season (1990).
REGIONAL STREAK: Counting its appearance in the 19 years a NCAA Regional has been staged (1989-2007), ASU has made 24 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the sixth-longest active streak in the nation. ASU has advanced to the NCAA Championships 23 of the past 24 seasons (1984-2007), missing only in 2002, and in 41 of the past 43 seasons (1964-2005), missing prior to 2002 in 1983.
Longest Active NCAA Tournament Appearance
Oklahoma State, 1947-08, 62
USC, 1973-08, 36
Texas, 1978-08, 31
Oklahoma, 1981-08, 28
Clemson, 1982-08, 27
Arizona State, 1984-08, 25
Georgia Tech, 1985-08, 24
*Note: List includes NCAA Championship prior to 1989 and reaching at least NCAA Regionals from 1989-present.