THIS WEEK: For the first time in conference history, Washington State University will host the Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championships in Pullman, Wash, April 27-29…the Cougars will welcome the member institutions of the Pac-12 Conference to WSU’s Palouse Ridge Golf Club to compete in a four-round tournament, Monday through Wednesday…admission to the championships will be free.
THE TOURNAMENT: The 56th-annual conference championships tee off Monday, April 27 beginning at 7:30 a.m…teams will play two rounds Monday…golfers will return to Palouse Ridge Tuesday for the third round of play beginning at 8 a.m…the final round of the championships will tee off at 8 a.m. Wednesday, with the award ceremony following the conclusion of play…each school will have six golfers competing in the championships with the five lowest scores counting in each round.
THE COURSE: Washington State University’s Palouse Ridge Golf Club will play at par 70 with a 7, 257-yard track for the championships…Palouse Ridge opened in 2008 and quickly became one of the premiere collegiate golf courses in the country, hosting the Washington State Men’s Amateur, the U.S. Public Links Qualifying, the U.S. Amateur Qualifying, the 2012 Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championships, and the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Regional.
THE FIELD: All 12 member institutions of the Pac-12 Conference will compete in the championships.
REPRESENTING WASHINGTON STATE: Competing for the Cougar men will be senior Michael Anderson, freshman Derek Bayley, redshirt-senior Sang Lee, sophomore Nick Mandell, freshman Brian Mogg, and redshirt-senior Alex Wagner.
RESULTS: Live results will be available during tournament play at golfstat.com. Tournament results will be posted at wsucougars.com and pac-12.com at the end of each day of competition.
WSU HOSTS MEDIA DAY: The Cougars hosted a media day, April 20, offering regional media the opportunity to play Palouse Ridge with student-athletes from the WSU men’s golf team…a video recap of the event is available in the link at the top of this webpage.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: The 2015 Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championships arrive in Pullman, Wash., for the first time in conference history…WSU has previously hosted the tournament five times, but never in Pullman (previously in Clarkston, Spokane, Richland, and Walla Walla).
SECOND IS THE BEST: For the second time this season, Pac-12 talent descends on Palouse Ridge…eight Pac-12 teams competed in Pullman in the fall when the Cougars hosted the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate, Sept. 29-30…Oregon (-6, 834) took home the title, edging out USC (-6, 834) in a playoff…WSU finished fourth at 2-over par (842).
LAST TIME AT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Senior Blake Snyder (-1, 287) finished tied for fourth at the 2014 Pac-12 Championships, hosted Arizona in Marana, Ariz., April 25-27…Snyder’s finish marked the best finish by a Cougar at the conference championships in school history…as a team, WSU finished 11th in the tournament with a 1510 (+70).
LAST TIME ON THE GREEN: The Cougars fired a 875 (+11) at the Hawkeye-Great River Entertainment Invitational, to finish in seventh place…senior Michael Anderson led the Cougars in the tournament, finishing 1-under (215) and tied for 13th place…redshirt-senior Sang Lee (+3, 219) also recorded a top-25 finish, tying for 23rd place.
YOUTH CLINIC: The WSU men’s and women’s golf teams will host a free kids’ clinic Saturday, April 25 at 4 p.m. at Palouse Ridge…the event is open to children of all ages.
COUGS STRONG IN THE CLASSROOM: Through the fall 2014 semester, the WSU men’s golf team boasted a 3.06 average cumulative GPA…of the golf team’s 10-student roster, seven student-athletes earned a 3.00 GPA or higher…the Washington State men’s golf program has a history of strong performance in the classroom as senior Michael Anderson and redshirt-senior Sang Lee earned Pac-12 All-Academic recognition last season.
CLEGG SIGNS TWO FOR 2015-16: A.J. Armstrong and Aaron Whalen have each signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s golf at Washington State University, beginning next fall, Cougar Head Coach Garrett Clegg announced, Nov. 11, 2014.
COACHING STAFF: Washington State is led by Head Coach Garrett Clegg in his fourth season as the mentor for the Cougars…a native of Bountiful, Utah, Clegg was an assistant coach at Washington for four seasons prior to his arrival at WSU…the Cougars are assisted by WSU alumnus Dustin White in his second season…White competed for the Cougars from 1999-2003.