May 2008 Archives

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- UCLA's Kevin Chappell shot a 76 on Saturday to wrap up the NCAA men's individual golf championship and help the Bruins hold off Pac-10 rivals Stanford and USC for the team title.

Chappell finished the tournament at 2-under 286. The Pac-10 Player of the Year was the only player to finish the tourney under par.

Indiana's Jorge Campillo and Washington's Nick Taylor tied for second, three shots back with a 1-over 289. Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State and Sihwan Kim of Stanford tied for fourth at 6-over 294. Florida's Billy Horschel finished sixth.

Clemson's Kyle Stanley trailed Chappell by four strokes after Friday, but he shot a 10-over 82 Saturday to fall from second into a tie for seventh. Stanley was the runner-up last year.

UCLA finished the four-day tournament with a 42-over 1,194, one stroke better than
second-place finisher and defending champion Stanford, which was five strokes back Friday.

USC finished two strokes back at 1,196. Ten-time NCAA champion Oklahoma State
and Clemson rounded out the top five.

The tournament was played on Purdue's 7,450-yard, par-72 Kampen Course and ended with the top 15 teams playing for the title.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Kyle Stanley shot a 4-under 68 Thursday, helping Clemson to a one-stroke lead over UCLA at the halfway point of the NCAA men's Division I golf championship.

Stanley, the runner-up a year ago, birdied four of the first seven holes on Purdue's par-72 Kampen Course and had two more birdies on the back nine to offset a double-bogey 6 on No. 12, the only hole on which he failed to make par.

His two-round total of 140 was one stroke behind leader Billy Horschel of Florida, who finished Thursday's round on the 7,450-yard course at 5-under 67.

The top score of the day was by Nick Taylor of Washington, whose seven birdies helped him to a 6-under 66 and a two-round total of 141 for third place.

First-round leader Kevin Chappell of UCLA shot a 73 and fell to a fourth-place tie with
Georgia's Hudson Swafford at 142. USC freshman Tim Sluiter, who won his first college
tournament in March, was at 143 for sixth place.

Joel Sjoholm of Georgia State was next at 144, and Jorge Campillo of Indiana and Chris DeForest of Illinois were tied at 145. Defending champion Jamie Lovemark of USC was well back at 154.

USC, the tournament's top seed, was tied with UCLA after the first round on Wednesday but dropped to third with a combined score of 591, one stroke behind the Bruins and two behind Clemson. USC won the women's team title last week and is trying to join Arizona in 1990 as the only schools to win both titles in the same year.

Florida was fourth after Thursday's round at 593, one stroke ahead of Oklahoma State. Washington was sixth at 595, followed by Georgia at 596, defending champion Stanford at 597, Kent State at 598 and Charlotte at 601.

The field of 30 teams will be cut after Friday's round to the top 15 going into Saturday's
finals.

Hart's Johnny Mac Arthur won the individual title in the CIF-SCGA Southern Regional High School championships today. Santa Barbara won the team title. Here's the press release from the SCGA:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- UCLA's Kevin Chappell shot a 3-under-par 69 on Wednesday and the Bruins were tied with rival USC after the first round of the NCAA men's Division I golf championship.

Oklahoma State was one stroke back at 298, and Clemson and Kent State were tied for fourth at 301 on the 7,450-yard Kampen Course at Purdue's Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

Defending champion Stanford, which last year won its first title since 1994, was tied for 12th at 309.

USC's Tim Sluiter and Kent State's David Markle were both one stroke behind Chappell and they were the only players to break par. Three others were at 72.

The Trojans' Jamie Lovemark, the medalist last year, was at 7-over 79.

The tournament runs through Saturday.

USC women's golf coach Andrea Gaston led her team to the NCAA title victory, her second in six years, and was promptly carried around by her players last week.
They didn't drop her, either.
``That was unbelievable,'' Gaston said. ``That was exciting. That was the ultimate compliment from them. They felt that all of us together were part of this victory. They all did a great job playing their way into the championship. They were showing me respect.''
Gaston didn't get a ride around on players' shoulders for her first NCAA championship in 2003.
Gaston received respect from her peers as well, as she was just named the coach of the year by the National Golf Coaches Association.
All five Trojans who scored received All-American honors.

Tiger Woods was at a press conference for his tournament, the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
"The knee's doing better," Woods said. "The rehab is boring. It gets really old riding that bike, man. But everything's on schedule. Just been training and trying to get this thing organized for the Open, and it's right on schedule for that."

Check out the players who are fully exempt to play in the U.S. Open June 12-15 at Torrey Pines. Below is the number indciating which exemption the player has met. Of course, Tiger Woods met the critieria for ten of them.

USC women's golf coach Andrea Gaston was named the NCAA coach of the year by the National Golf Coaches Association. Gaston led the Trojans to the NCAA championship last week, her second NCAA title in six years.

The USC women's golf team won the NCAA Championships in New Mexico on Friday, its second title in the last five years. The Trojans also won in 2003. UCLA's Tiffany Joh tied for first for individual medalist but lost the title on the first playoff hole.

Lorena Ochoa won the Sybase Classic for the third year in a row. The Mexican star shot a 1-under 71 and beat five players by one shot. She stole Annika Sorenstam's thunder in the process as Sorenstam announced Tuesday that she would retire from golf after the season. Sorenstam, who was in contention to win, finished tied for 11th, five strokes behind Ochoa.

Kelsey Conway, of Ventura was named a Presidents' Youth Leadership Award recipient. Below is the release from the AJGA:

The USGA today announced a new four-year agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Here's more info from today's morning conference call with Jack Nicklaus, USGA officials and RBS officials.

Anthony Kim, who grew up in Studio City, is the cover boy in this week's ``GolfWorld'' magazine.

Annika Sorenstam officially announced her retirement from professional golf in a conference call today. She'll retire at the end of the season.

The Associated Press is reporting that Annika Sorenstam will retire at season's end. Here's the story:

Click hereto read Tom Hoffarth's Off the Wall post complete with pictures from Torrey Pines. We played the course yesterday, one month before the U.S. Open tees off. The rough is tough stuff, that's for sure. Tom played, I hacked around a bit on a few holes. On the 13th hole, it took me six shots to move my ball 10 feet out of the rough. And that was child's play. The rough will continue to grow for the next month.
I'll have a column in tomorrow's Daily News detailing the state of Torrey Pines and what it will be like when the pros tee it up.

Anthony Kim (who grew up in Studio City), John Merrick (UCLA) and Kevin Stadler (USC) all shot first-round 70s today to move into a tie for ninth place after the first round of the PLAYERS championship. Kim just won his first PGA Tour event at the Wachovia Championship on Sunday.

May is PGA free lesson month. I did this a couple of years ago, and it was quite beneficial. You get a free, 10-minute lesson with participating pros across the country. To find a PGA pro near you who's participating, go to www.playgolfamerica.com.
I did a search for ten miles within Woodland Hills, and here's some I found who are partiicpating:

The Dodgers Dream Foundation Charity Golf Tournament is May 22. Read the Dodgers release below to find out how to play in it. Each foursome is paired with a celebrity, current or former Dodger player, broadcaster or the like.

Anthony Kim, 22, won the Wacchovia Championship today for his first PGA Tour victory. Here's what Kim, who grew up in Studio City, said about it at his press conference:
``I'm a little bit numb right now, but that walk up 18 was the best feeling in my entire life, and I'll never forget that feeling. I had chills going up and down my spine. I want to recreate that as many times as possible now, so I'm going to really work hard.''

Anthony Kim, who grew up in Studio City, just won his first PGA Tour event moments ago. Kim had a four-shot lead going into today's final round of the Wachovia Championship in North Carolina. Kim had been close so many times before, but this time cruised to a final-round 69 for a five-shot victory.

Each year, Sports Illustrated does great stuff on an anonymous poll of PGA Tour golfers. They polled 72. Here's one juicy tidbit. When asked who the best caddie on tour was, someone said: ``Anyone who puts up with Vijay (Singh).''
Read on for more goodies:

Frank Robinson hosts a golf tournament benefitting diabetes. It's at El Cab CC in Tarzana on May 12.
The press release follows: