ASU men's golf captures Pac-10 title

The men's golf squad, playing with three freshmen, two sophomores and a senior, captured its eighth Pac-10 title in 16 years under head coach Randy Lein April 30.

The team captured the victory in a one-hole playoff over defending conference champion USC (ranked No. 2 Golfstat and No. 3 Golfweek) at The Meadow Club (par-71, 6,686 yards) in Fairfax, Calif.

ASU's six-man squad posted four pars on the par-4 18th hole, as the Sun Devil freshmen trio of Stephan Gross, Jesper Kennegard and James Byrne each made par along with sophomore Knut Borsheim. Braxton Marquez and Phil Telliard each notched a bogey. Only two USC players posted par on the tiebreaker hole as ASU clinched its 12th Pac-10 title in 30 years. ASU trailed USC by two strokes entering the final day.

"We are thrilled to not only make a great comeback on the final day, but to get such a great team effort throughout the tournament from such a young and improving team," says head coach Randy Lein. "We have really played well since the spring season started with the additions of Stephan and Braxton. James (Byrne) led us and shot his best round of the season Tuesday. Stephan (Gross) was as steady as you can be all week and led us Wednesday. Jesper (Kennegard) shot a 67 in the first round and that got us off to a great start. Braxton (Marquez) shot his best round of the tournament on the final day (72), while Phil (Telliard), a great team captain and our only senior, shot one of the best rounds of his career in the second round (69).

"We had Jesper, Phil, James and then Stephan each lead us in a round. When you get four different players lead you, you are playing great team golf. Knut and Braxton never led us on one day, but of their eight rounds we only tossed out on one of their scores. This was as solid of a Pac-10 team win as we have had in our eight championships since I have been coaching."

ASU, ranked No. 20 by Golfweek and No. 29 by Golfstat, shot 354-361-356-364 and tied with the Trojans (338-374-357-366) at 15-over 1,435. The Pac-10 Championship counts the low five scores from the six-man teams.

ASU became the fifth different school to win the team title in the past five years as USC (2007), UCLA (2006), Washington (2005) and Arizona (2004) each won.

Lein has now led ASU to eight Pac-10 titles in his 16 seasons, and overall the Sun Devils have now won 12 Pac-10 titles in its 30 seasons, including a conference record six straight from 1995-2000. In its past six Pac-10 championships, ASU has finished first (2008), third (2003, 2006 and 2007), second (2004) and tied for first (2005).Since joining the Pac-10 in the 1978-79 school year, ASU has finished out of the top five just twice in its 30 championships (ninth in 2002 and sixth in 1983).

Next up, the Sun Devils will compete in the 2008 NCAA West Regional will be held in Bremerton, Wash., May 15-17. The 2008 NCAA Championships will be held in West Lafayette, Ind., May 28- 31 with Purdue serving as host.