THIS WEEK: The Washington State University men's golf team will kick off its spring season at the Arizona Intercollegiate at Tucson, Ariz., Friday through Saturday, Jan. 29-30.
THE TOURNAMENT: The first two rounds will be played Friday with a shotgun start at 7 a.m. PT/8 a.m. MST…the final 18 holes will be played Saturday, beginning at 7:30 a.m. PT/8:30 a.m. MST… the lowest four of five scores will be counted toward the team's round total…the two-day event will take place at the Sewailo Golf Club, a par-72, 7,262-yard track.
THE FIELD: Joining Washington State and host-school Arizona in the 16-team field will be BYU, California, Cal State Fullerton, Denver, Iowa State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Santa Clara, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Texas, Utah, UTEP, and Washington.
REPRESENTING WASHINGTON STATE: Competing for the Cougar men will be sophomore Derek Bayley, freshman AJ Armstrong, sophomore Zach Anderson, junior Nick Mandell, and freshman Aaron Whalen.
LAST TIME ON THE GREEN: Led by Bayley, WSU finished 15th (+40, 892) at the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational, Nov. 6-8…Bayley shot 4-under par (67) on the final day of competition to tie for 21st (+2, 215), making it his ninth career top-25 finish…fellow sophomore Anderson tied for 49th at 222 (+9).
FALL RECAP: The Cougars finished 11th at the Saint Mary's Invitational, their first tournament of the year…the team improved to seventh at the Husky Invitational one week later…WSU's fall season was highlighted by a victory at the Itani Quality Homes College, where Bayley captured the individual title, four strokes ahead of teammate Whalen…the men finished 15th at both the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational and the Ka'anapali Classic, which were the last two tournaments of the fall…Bayley, Whalen, Armstrong, Mandell and Anderson combined for 10 top-25 finishes.
COACHING STAFF: The men's golf team is led by fifth-year head coach Garrett Clegg…assisting Clegg is WSU alumnus Dustin White, a third-year assistant coach who golfed for the Cougars from 1999-2003.
RESULTS: Live results will be posted on birdiefire.com…full recaps will be posted on wsucougars.com at the end of each round.