UW Seventh At Pac-10 Championships

Saturday, April 30

Stanford, Calif. -- Stanford GC

All Day

University of Washington

Pac-10 Championship

No. 8 Seed Huskies On The Road To The Riviera

April 30, 2011 | Men's Golf

By: Washington Athletics

April 30, 2011

• Golfstat.com Live Scoring
• Follow UW Men's Golf On Facebook
• Twitter: @UW_MGolf | @MattThurmond

STANFORD, Calif. -- Saturday's third round at the Pac-10 Men's Golf Championship is considered moving day, but unfortunately for the two-time defending champion Huskies they found themselves barely gaining any ground. Washington came off Stanford Golf Course in seventh, shooting a 15-over par 365, after starting the day eighth.

Overall, the Huskies are +39 (1089). The Dawgs are bunched in a group that includes five schools all within six strokes of each other: California +34, Oregon State +38, Arizona +40 and Washington State +40.

Unfortunately for the group, they are being lapped by USC (+11), Stanford (+14), UCLA (+20) and Oregon (+20); a group that most likely will scramble on Sunday to determine the new Pac-10 champion.

With a three-peat realistically gone for the Dawgs, Coach Matt Thurmond is hoping to find some consistency up and down his six man lineup in Sunday's final round.

"I just want to have a great round and count five good scores," said Thurmond, looking ahead to tomorrow. "Yeah, we're not going to win. Three-peat...that's out the door. But, we're going to play for ourselves and try to be as good as we can on each hole.

"We're not doing that right now and hopefully we will tomorrow so we can feel good about the way we played and be the team that I know we can."

There are three Huskies currently in the top-25 among individuals and perhaps one of them can give tournament leaders -- USC's Martin Trainer and Oregon State's Alex Moore at -5 -- a run for their money.

Sophomore Chris Williams is in the best shape among Dawgs at +2 for the tournament, good enough for a 9th-place tie on the leader board. The Huskies teed off from No. 10 and Williams made the turn at the par-70 course at -3, thanks to birdies on 12, 15 and 16. On the second nine, Williams bogeyed five holes and had just one birdie. He finished with a 71 for the day.

Fellow sophomore Charlie Hughes entered the clubhouse tied for 12th after a 3-over 73. Unlike Williams, Hughes struggled on the first nine, marking a double-bogey on 13 and a triple-bogey on No. 15. On the front of the course he turned things around with three birdies and just one bogey. Overall, he is +4 for the tournament.

Senior Tze Huang Choo is the only other Husky in the top-25. The native of Singapore fired a 71 on Saturday. Only a bogey his finishing hole No. 9 prevented Choo from ending his day at even par. Choo is tied for 16th at +5.

Senior Kevin Spooner carded his best round of the tournament so far with a 73. He was +4 after his first nine, but bounced back nicely with a couple of birdies on No. 1 and No. 2. Spooner would go on to bogey two more holes and birdie one. He is tied for 42nd at +12 overall.

Freshman Cory McElyea had his biggest struggle so far with a 77, while classmate Trevor Simsby shot his third consecutive 78. McElyea is tied for 48th and Simsby is 59th.

Sunday's final round will commence at 8:00 a.m. on hole No. 1 and 8:24 a.m. on No. 10.

7	Washington	368	356	365	1089
T9	Chris Williams (1)	71	70	71	212
T12	Charlie Hughes (2)	69	72	73	214
T16	Tze Huang Choo (3)	76	68	71	215
T42	Kevin Spooner (5)	76	73	73	222
T48	Cory McElyea (6)	76	73	77	226
59	Trevor Simsby (4)	78	78	78	234