The NCAA News - News and Features

June 9, 1997

Waves' surge on third day secures victory in I men's golf

Tiger Woods made waves last year at the Division I Men's Golf Championships, but this year's Waves were from Pepperdine.

Riding the crest of top-five finishes from Jason Gore and Mike Walton, Pepperdine hung on for a three-stroke victory over Wake Forest and claimed its first team title May 28-31 at Conway Farms in Evanston, Illinois.

It wasn't high tide early on for the Waves, who grabbed the last of nine qualifying spots from the West regional, then watched as Northwestern bolted to an early lead on its home course.

The Wildcats shot 282-289 to carve a two-stroke lead at the halfway point, with Pepperdine third by four shots.

But Pepperdine's Andy Walker shot a third-round 70 and Gore and Walton posted 71 and 72, respectively, to vault the Waves into the lead with one day to play.

Ironically, Pepperdine coach John Geiberger missed all four rounds after being quarantined in a nearby hotel with the chicken pox. And adding to the irony for Pepperdine, with the team title in hand, the race for the individual trophy went awry as Gore's quest for medalist honors slipped away at the treacherous par-5 18th hole.

Holding onto a one-stroke lead and resting comfortably at six under par for the tournament, Gore's final tee shot found the trap left of the fairway and put the transfer from Arizona in trouble. He blasted out into position to salvage the hole, but plugged his approach in a greenside bunker. Then, from an awkward stance, Gore chipped past the hole and onto the fringe, and his return chip for par cruised past the cup by some 12 feet. Gore then hit the bogey putt long and missed out on what would have been a three-way playoff.

That left Brad Elder of Texas and Charles Warren of Clemson knotted in the tournament's first tie since Texas teammates Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite shared the title without a playoff in 1972.

Elder, hitting first on the sudden-death 18th, flew his drive into the deep rough right of the fairway, while Warren's tee ball was long and down the middle. Elder couldn't manage the tall grass and hooked his second shot into the creek on the left. Warren laid up within 100 yards of the hole and Elder put his fourth shot on the fringe. Both golfers took two putts to complete the hole, but Warren's par gave him the trophy won last year by then-Stanford player and current Masters champion Woods.

"I've been in position to win a lot of tournaments, though none as big as this one," Warren said. "One of the biggest mistakes I've made in the past is getting too far ahead of myself and worrying. I just tried to stay in the present and worry about the hole I was on. If you get ahead of yourself and start thinking about some of the shots -- especially the tee shots -- you can really make some mistakes."

Warren was this year's Atlantic Coast Conference champion as well, and he concluded the season with six straight top-10 finishes after failing to reach the top 10 in his first eight tournaments of the year.

Gore tied East Tennessee State's Keith Nolan for third. The two were tied atop the leaderboard after the second round. Nolan shot a final-round 74.

Division I men's golf

TEAM RESULTS

1. Pepperdine, 287-288-286-287--1,148; 2. Wake Forest, 290-295-287-279--1,151; 3. Clemson, 291-287-291-284--1,153; 4. Ohio St., 292-289-286-287--1,154; 5. (tie) Arizona St., 299-281-288-288--1,156; and Oklahoma St., 286-298-283-289--1,156; 7. (tie) Northwestern, 282-289-292-295--1,158; and Texas Christian, 290-292-289-287--1,158; 9. Houston, 289-284-297-290--1,160; 10. North Caro., 283-295-291-298--1,167; 11. New Mexico, 289-298-295-287--1,169; 12. East Tenn. St., 286-289-295-300--1,170; 13. Texas A&M, 286-297-300-289--1,172; 14. Southern Cal, 289-295-290-299--1,173; 15. Florida, 292-295-297-291--1,175.

Did not make cut:

16. (tie) Arkansas, 297-292--589; and Auburn, 301-288--589; 18. (tie) LSU, 293-297--590; and San Jose St., 299-291--590; 20. Texas, 296-295--591; 21. South Caro., 291-301--592; 22. UNLV, 300-293--593; 23. (tie) Drake, 297-297--594; and Virginia, 299-295--594; 25. Michigan, 300-297--597; 26. (tie) Arizona, 294-304--598; and UCLA, 303-295--598; 28. Tennessee, 300-299--599; Duke, 300-305--605; 30. Washington, 311-306--617.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

1. (tie) Charles Warren (won playoff), Clemson, 71-68-73-67--279; and Brad Elder, Texas, 71-69-67-72--279; 3. (tie) Jason Gore, Pepperdine, 65-72-71-72--280; and Keith Nolan, East Tenn. St., 71-66-69-74--280; 5. Mike Walton, Pepperdine, 70-71-72-68--281; 6. (tie) Michael Capone, Wake Forest, 75-70-71-68--284; Richard Coughlan, Clemson, 71-72-68-73--284; Bryant MacKellar, Auburn, 75-69-70-70--284; and Rory Sabbatini, Arizona, 71-72-73-68--284; 10. (tie) Ross Bain, North Caro., 69-70-73-73--285; Tim Clark, North Caro. St., 67-73-73-72--285; Chris Hanell, Arizona St., 76-67-70-72--285; Scott Johnson, Arizona St., 73-69-72-71--285; and Randy Leen, Indiana, 70-70-74-71--285.

15. (tie) Bo VanPelt, Oklahoma St., 72-75-70-69--286; and Leif Westerberg, Oklahoma St., 71-74-69-72--286; 17. (tie) Erik Ciotti, Northwestern, 68-74-72-73--287; Brian Guetz, Oklahoma St., 71-72-71-73--287; and J. J. Henry, Texas Christian, 72-68-76-71--287; 20. (tie) Craig Matthew, Ohio St., 71-70-73-74--288; Steve Scott, Florida, 75-75-72-66--288; and Andy Walker, Pepperdine, 77-69-70-72--288; 23. (tie) Didier deVooght, Ohio St., 76-72-72-69--289; and Brent Wolf, Texas Christian, 74-74-70-71--289.

25. (tie) Ryan Murphy, New Mexico, 75-73-73-69--290; Justin Roof, Wake Forest, 69-78-71-72--290; Scott Rowe, Northwestern, 73-68-71-78--290; Justin Russo, San Jose St., 73-71-74-72--290; and Chris Wollmann, Ohio St., 75-72-71-72--290; 30. (tie) Ryan Armour, Ohio St., 73-75-71-72--291; Ty Cox, Texas A&M, 72-74-76-69--291; Ryan Gioffre, Wake Forest, 72-76-75-68--291; Doug La Belle, New Mexico, 72-74-75-70--291; Adam Manuel, LSU, 69-74-73-75--291; and Chad Wright, Southern Cal, 73-76-71-71--291.

36. (tie) Mike Brennan, Houston, 73-71-78-70--292; Jeff Brown, Texas A&M, 70-75-76-71--292; Lewis Chitengwa, Virginia, 73-71-75-73--292; Shawn Koch, East Tenn. St., 69-74-76-73--292; Alberto Ochoa, Texas Christian, 70-76-72-74--292; and Pat Perez, Arizona St., 76-70-72-74--292; 42. (tie) Brian Hull, Southern Cal, 70-72-72-79--293; Josh McCumber, Florida, 76-71-73-73--293; Chris Morris, Houston, 73-73-71-76--293; Arron Oberholser, San Jose St., 69-72-75-77--293; and Chris Wall, New Mex., 71-76-74-72--293.

47. (tie) Ryan Palmer, Texas A&M, 71-74-73-76--294; Carlos Rodiles, Florida, 69-77-71-77--294; Oscar Sanchez, Wake Forest, 76-75-72-71--294; Victor Schwamkrug, Houston, 76-70-76-72--294; and Matt Seppanen, Northwestern, 69-74-76-75--294; 52. (tie) Max Harris, North Caro., 67-73-80-75--295; Roger Tambellini, Southern Cal, 71-74-73-77--295; and Deron Zinnecker, Texas Christian, 74-76-74-71--295; 55. (tie) Jeff Burns, Houston, 81-70-73-72--296; Rob McMillan, New Mexico, 71-75-74-76--296; and Mark Wilson, North Caro., 74-75-69-78--296.

58. (tie) Miguel del Angel, Texas A&M, 73-76-75-73--297; Kevin Lynch, Northwestern, 72-78-75-72--297; Joey Maxon, Clemson, 74-77-68-72--297; and Sal Spallone, Texas Christian, 74-74-73-76--297; 62. Jonathan Loosemore, Northwestern, 76-73-74-75--298; 63. (tie) Darren Angel, Arizona St., 74-75-79-71--299; David Christensen, East Tenn. St., 75-72-71-81--299; Elliot Gealy, Clemson, 75-73-76-75--299; Todd Lynch, Wake Forest, 74-74-73-78--299; Mark Madson, Pepperdine, 75-76-73-75--299; Landry Mahan, Oklahoma St., 74-77-73-75--299; and Whit Staples, North Caro., 73-77-74-75--299.

70. (tie) Jonathan Byrd, Clemson, 79-74-76-72--301; and B. J. Staten, Houston, 67-78-77-79--301; 72. (tie) Edward Loar, Oklahoma St., 72-77-77-76--302; and Lee Reed, Texas A&M, 76-74-76-76--302; 74. (tie) Jeff Brown, Ohio St., 73-82-72-76--303; Lee McEntee, North Caro., 74-79-75-75--303; and Bill Ullery, East Tenn. St., 73-77-79-74--303; 77. (tie) Jorge Corral, Southern Cal, 75-80-74-76--305; and Glen Millican, New Mexico, 75-78-72-78--305; 79. Nick Webb, Southern Cal, 80-73-78-75--306.

80. Ben Taylor, Florida, 72-80-81-75--308; 81. Brad Cannon, Arizona St., 78-80-74-77--309; 82. Eamonn Brady, East Tenn. St., 73-80-79-79--311; 83. Chris Almond, Florida, 77-72-83-80--312; 84. Paul Meyer, Pepperdine, 78-79-81-80--318.

Did not make cut:

85. (tie) Kyle Dobbs, Michigan, 73-71--144; Jake Kransteuber, South Caro., 72-72--144; and P. J. Smith, LSU, 68-76--144; 88. (tie) Jason Buha, Duke, 71-74--145; James Driscoll, Virginia, 74-71--145; Eric Ecker, South Caro., 70-75--145; Bill Lunde, UNLV, 72-73--145; Ted Oh, UNLV, 74-71--145; and Steve Wagner, UCLA, 76-69--145; 94. (tie) Jason Dufner, Auburn, 75-71--146; Bryan Hawkins, Arkansas, 72-74--146; Ian Kennedy, LSU, 76-70--146; Tyler Shook, San Jose St., 75-71--146; and Tim Turpen, Tennessee, 72-74--146.

99. (tie) Casey Brown, Arkansas, 74-73--147; and Ben Crane, Oregon, 75-72--147; 101. (tie) Andy Aduddell, Texas, 75-73--148; Boomer Erick, Tennessee, 75-73--148; Tag Ridings, Arkansas, 74-74--148; and Jon Whitaker, Arkansas, 77-71--148; 105. (tie) Jeff Fahrenbruch, Texas, 74-75--149; and Ben Pettitt, Drake, 74-75--149; 107. (tie) Andy Barnes, Arizona, 73-77--150; Reid Edstrom, Auburn, 80-70--150; Michael Harris, Michigan, 79-71--150; Zach Johnson, Drake, 81-69--150; Scott Kral, Washington, 77-73--150; Ben Poehling, Drake, 74-76--150; Todd Rose, Arizona, 75-75--150; and Mike Ruiz, UNLV, 77-73--150.

115. (tie) Andrea Brotto, Virginia, 73-78--151; Derrick Centers, Tennessee, 75-76--151; Mike Christensen, Duke, 74-77--151; David Jasper, Michigan, 75-76--151; John Moscrip, Washington, 76-75--151; B. J. Schlagenhauf, UCLA, 77-74--151; and Jason Semelsberger, UCLA, 76-75--151; 122. (tie) Cory Braunschweig, Drake, 75-77--152; Mark Catalano, South Caro., 74-78--152; Brandon DiTullio, UCLA, 75-77--152; Christoffer Ekebergh, South Caro., 75-77--152; Derek Gillespie, Arizona, 75-77--152; and Brent Idalski, Michigan, 73-79--152.

128. (tie) Jeremy Anderson, UNLV, 77-76--153; Ben Bost, UCLA, 76-77--153; Kyle Elfers, Duke, 79-74--153; Matt Kuchar, Georgia Tech, 77-76--153; Brent Roof, South Caro., 76-77--153; and Roland Thatcher, Auburn, 74-79--153; Gary Matthews, Arizona, 76-78--154; 135. (tie) Keith Blythe, Tennessee, 78-76--154; Cole Kelly, Virginia, 79-75--154; Rich Morris, Arkansas, 78-76--154; and Robert Russell, Mo.-Kansas City, 77-77--154.

139. (tie) Ryan Cabbage, Auburn, 77-78--155; and Patrick Malone, Texas, 76-79--155; 141. (tie) Ryan Hartman, Drake, 74-82--156; Kevin Law, Tennessee, 79-77--156; Gilberto Morales, UNLV, 78-78--156; and Chris Schmid, Duke, 76-80--156; 145. Derrick Pursley, UTEP, 78-79--157; 146. Jeremy Wilkinson, LSU, 80-78--158; 147. (tie) Erik Bertrand, Duke, 79-80--159; Isaac Hinkle, Michigan, 79-80--159; and Trae Wieniewitz, LSU, 82-77--159.

150. (tie) Max Rehm, Virginia, 80-80--160; and Darren Slackman, Washington, 79-81--160; 152. (tie) Robb Bergeson, Washington, 79-82--161; and Marcus Jones, Texas, 83-78--161; 154. Chris Lohman, Washington, 88-77--165; 155. Steve Grier, San Jose St., 89-77--166; 156. Chad McGowan, San Jose St., 82-85--167.