Men's golf to defend Pac-10 title in Seattle

April 20, 2009

The Arizona State men's golf team will travel to Seattle April 27-29 to defend its Pac-10 title in the highly competitive tournament, as last year ASU became the fifth school to win the team title in the past half decade as USC (2007), UCLA (2006), Washington (2005) and Arizona (2004) all have taken home a trophy in the past five tournaments. ASU will tee with Stanford and Oregon on the first day (April 27) beginning at 7:30 a.m. and then 12:30 p.m. off the first hole, as the six-man teams will play 36 holes on the first day.<separator></separator>2008 RECAP Last year at the Pac-10 championships at The Meadow Club (par-71, 6,686 yards) in Fairfax, Calif., ASU, playing with three freshmen, two sophomores and a senior, captured its eighth Pac-10 title in 16 years under head coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/lein_randy00.html">Randy Lein</a> in a one-hole playoff over defending conference champion USC (#2 Golfstat/#3 Golfweek). ASU trailed by 16 to the Trojans after the first round. ASU 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.<separator></separator>PAC-10 SUCCESS AT ASU Arizona State has now won 12 Pac-10 titles in its 30 seasons, including a conference record six straight from 1995-2000. In addition to the six straight Pac-10 titles, ASU's other five Pac-10 titles have come in 1979 (its first year in the league), 1981, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2008. ASU tied for the league title in 2005 with Washington but lost on a tiebreaker formula, and the league decided to go to a playoff format after that season. In its past six Pac-10 championships, ASU has finished first (2008), third (2003, 2006 and 2007), second (2004) and tied for first (2005).<separator></separator>A STRAIGHT "LEIN" OF SUCCESS AT PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS ASU coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/lein_randy00.html">Randy Lein</a> has now led ASU to eight Pac-10 titles in his 16 seasons. ASU previously won titles in 1993, Lein's first year, and then won six straight from 1995-2000. ASU tied for first but lost in a tiebreaker in 2005, finished second in 2001 and 2004 and third in 1994, 2003, 2006 and 2007. 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).<separator></separator>SUN DEVILS AS PAC-10 MEDALISTS <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/casey_paul00.html">Paul Casey</a> won three straight Pac-10 titles from 1998-2000, which is the last time a Sun Devil won the title and is a conference record for consecutive Pac-10 titles. Other Sun Devils who have won the Pac-10 championship are Scott Johnson (1997), <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/mickelson_phil00.html">P… Mickelson</a> (1990), co-medalists Dan Forsman and Tony Grimes (1981), Jim Bertoncino (co-medalist in 1980) and co-medalists Scott Watkins and Dan Croonquist (1979).