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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
The UW men's golf team won the 2008 Husky Invitational Tuesday with a three-round total of 857, 7-under par and 13 strokes better than the University of California in second. Adding to UW's success was Chris Killmer's win in the individual event which he claimed by three strokes over San Diego State's Johan Carlsson. Killmer; won by three
Starting the final round on 11-under, the Huskies did not have their best day shooting a four-man score of 292, their worst of the tournament by nine shots. 'Today's play was good, but it wasn't a great round for us,' said Huskies head coach Matt Thurmond. 'You always want to measure yourself against yourself, but we still won by a lot against some good teams.'
This is the first time since 2003 that the home team has won the trophy, and it was UW's first tournament win in three years. 'We've had a lot of good tournaments in that time, but we just haven't won one.' Thurmond said. 'We had a lead going into today, but we weren't scared and we didn't even really talk about it.'
Despite their relatively poor final round, the Huskies did play well enough to increase their lead over second place finishers, the University of California who posted a three-round total of 870, 6-over par. Rounding out the teams in the top five were San Diego State (879), BYU (885) and Oregon (887).
Leading the Huskies to victory was junior Chris Killmer, who secured his first Division 1 victory. The Washington junior shot a combined score of 211 (70-69-72) to earn the trophy. 'I played really solid,' Killmer said. 'Overall, just solid. I hit fairways and I hit greens. When I needed to make two-putts, I made two-putts. And I was able to slip in a few birdie putts.' Killmer joins John Wise (2006), Brock Mackenzie (2003) and Gordy Scutt (2001) as tournament winners from UW.
Killmer was followed in the individual standings by Johan Carlsson (San Diego State), Andrew Cooley (San Diego State), Richard Lee (Washington) and Jens Bracht (Washington). In all, four Huskies finished in the top 10 with Nick Taylor tying for seventh. 'It's hard to win tournaments because there are a lot of good teams,' Thurmond said. 'But to have a lead like we did and extend it took great play from everybody.'
The Huskies received significant contributions from new players; Lee, Bracht and most notably Killmer, who is back after a year hiatus. "I'm amazed by his play,' said Thurmond. 'To take a year off and play like this is amazing. He played under the pressure - the guy who hasn't been doing it the whole time. Golf is a weird sport. It's all about working harder and getting better, but sometimes it helps to step back and have a new perspective.' Thurmond added that the next time UW tee it up (The Prestige at La Quinta CA in two weeks' time) the team will have a little more swagger. 'We'll say; Just like we did at Gold Mountain.'
As for the Cougars, an encouraging third round 290 saw them leapfrog Oregon State University into eighth place on 892, +28.
Team Results
1 UW 857 -7
2 California 870 +6
3 San Diego St 879 +15
4 BYU 885 +21
5 Oregon 887 +23
6 Pacific 890 +26
7 WSU 892 +28
8 Oregon St 894 +30
9 UC Davis 899 +35
10 Idaho 904 +40
11 Portland 914 +50
Top Ten Individuals
1 Chris Killmer (UW) 211 -5
2 Johan Carlsson (SD State) 214 -2
3 Andrew Cooley (SD State) 216 E
3 Richard Lee (UW) 216 E
3 Jens Bracht (UW) 216 E
3 Robbie Fillmore (BYU) 216 E
7 Eric Mina (Calif) 217 +1
7 Nick Taylor (UW) 217 +1
7 John Murphy (Calif) 217 +1
7 Michael Jensen (Calif) 217 +1
Also:
11 TJ Bordeaux (Pacific) 218 +2
T16 Austin Hurt (WSU) 222 +6
T20 Tze-Huang Choo* (UW) 223 +7
T29 Kevin Spooner* (UW) 225 +9
T29 Kevin Tucker (WSU) 225 +9
T35 Ty Chambers* (UW) 227 +11
T35 Dylan Goodwin* (UW) 227 +11
T41 Darren Wallace (UW) 228 +12
T41 Nick Ellis (WSU) 228 +12
T41 Nick Grigsby (WSU) 228 +12
T53 Trent Sanders (WSU) 230 +14
T56 John Wise* (UW) 231 +15
* Individuals |
