By virtue of its fourth place finish at last week’s NCAA West Regional, the Washington men’s golf team will head to West Lafayette, Ind., for the 2008 NCAA Championships hosted by Purdue, May 28-31.  The Huskies are making their ninth NCAA Championship appearance in the last 10 years and 20th overall. The tournament will be held on the par-72, 7,431-yard Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. Washington is the No. 22 seed and will play its first two rounds on May 28 and May 29 paired with No. 23 St. Mary’s and No. 24 Arizona State.  The Huskies will open play on Wednesday  from the first tee at 7:47 a.m. ET and continue with second round action on Thursday from the 10th tee at 12:59 p.m. ET.

At 7,431 yards, the Kampen Course is a monster

The Format:  The 2008 NCAA Championship features 30 teams and the nation’s top six individuals not on those teams. All 156 players will compete on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, while Saturday’s final round is cut to the top 15 teams and top six individuals not on an advancing team. The tournament features 18 holes of play starting at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday-Friday and at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday. Participants will play in threesomes during the competition. Teams participating in the NCAA Championships shall consist of a maximum of five players (with four scores counting each day toward the team total). Split tees (#1 and #10) will be used during each round. Team and individual ties shall be broken in accordance with NCAA rules.

Results and Live Scoring:  Live scoring for the NCAA Championship will be available at golfstat.com.

The Field:  The 30-team field is as follows in order of seed: No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 UAB, No. 9 Alabama, No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Charlotte, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 East Tennessee State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 Augusta State, No. 18 UC Irvine, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Louisville, No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 22 Washington, No. 23 St. Mary’s, No. 24 Arizona State, No. 25 Kent State, No. 26 Penn State, No. 27 San Diego State, No. 28 Texas, No. 29 Middle Tennessee State and No. 30 Virginia. The individuals are James Sacheck (TCU), Eric Shriver (Pepperdine), Joel Sjoholm (Georgia State), Derek Tolan (Colorado), Jurrian Van Der Vaart (Virginia Tech) and Dan Woltman (Wisconsin).

Husky Lineup:  The Huskies’ lineup will feature senior Zach Bixler (Richland, Wash.), sophomore Nick Taylor (Abbotsford, B.C.), sophomore Darren Wallace (Langley, B.C.), John Wise (Bellevue, Wash.) and freshman Tze Huang Choo (Singapore, Singapore).

UW At The NCAA Championships:  Washington is making its ninth NCAA Championship appearance in the last 10 years and is back in the mix after missing last year’s national tournament for the first time since 1998.  Including this year, the Huskies have played in the NCAA Championships 20 times overall. Washington’s top team finish was a third-place standing in 2005. In all, the Huskies have four top-10 NCAA finishes also placing fourth in 1999, sixth in 2004 and ninth in 2006. Washington has had one player win NCAA medalist honors with James Lepp doing so in 2005. Lepp rallied from a six-shot deficit with a course-record 7-under 63 on the final day to force a play-off with Pepperdine’s Michael Putnam. Lepp then saved par on the third playoff hole, sinking a three-foot putt to win medalist honors. Troy Kelly was the NCAA runner-up in 1999, while Brock Mackenzie notched a fifth-place finish in 2003. Lepp owns the other Top-10 individual finish, placing eighth in 2006.

Bixler will be a key