THIS WEEK: The Washington State men's golf team will compete at the Bandon Dunes Championship at Bandon, Ore., Sunday through Tuesday, March 6-8.
THE TOURNAMENT: One round will be played each of the three days at the Bandon Trails Course, a par-71, 6,682-yard track…this will be the seventh-consecutive year Gonzaga has hosted the event and the first time since 2012 the tournament will be played at Bandon Trails, as the tournament rotates between the four courses at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort each year…each round will be signaled by a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
THE FIELD: Joining Washington State and host-school Gonzaga in the 12-team field will be No. 11 Clemson, No. 22 Washington, Alabama-Birmingham, Boise State, Denver, Missouri, Oregon State, San Jose State, Seattle, and Utah Valley.
REPRESENTING WASHINGTON STATE: Competing for the Cougar men will be sophomore Derek Bayley, freshman Aaron Whalen, junior Nick Mandell, freshman AJ Armstrong, and senior Evan Omelia.
LAST TIME AT THE BANDON DUNES CHAMPIONSHIP: With the 2015 tournament getting cut short due to rain and wind, WSU tied for fourth (+3, 579) after two rounds of play for its fifth top-five finish of the 2014-15 season…three Cougars finished in the top-25…then-senior Michael Anderson finished second (-5, 139), one stroke behind tournament-champion Cody Blick of San Jose State in his first top-five finish of the season…Bayley shot even par (144) through two rounds to tie for 13th…senior Bhurinat Songpaiboon tied for 23rd at 146 (+2).
LAST TIME ON THE GREEN: Highlighted by Bayley's fifth top-25 finish of the season, WSU finished 10th (+16, 880) at the John A. Burns Invitational at the Wailua Golf Course in Lihue, Hawaii, Feb. 19…with a three-round total of 214 (-2), Bayley tied for seventh, only four strokes back of co-champions Beau Hossler and Gavin Hall of Texas, K.K. Limbhasut of California, and Skye Inakoshi of Hawaii…Whalen tied for 32nd at 3-over par (219), while Mandell tied for 44th (+6, 222).
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 golfstat.com…full recaps will be posted on wsucougars.com at the end of each round.