UW Men's Golf Struggles at Pasatiempo

UW's #8 Men's Golf team got the wake up call it needed as the golf season comes to an end.  After cruising to an easy victory the week before against a less accomplished field, the Huskies struggled in a tougher contest against a tougher field.

The full UW press release (thank you, Ricky Brackett of UW) is included below.

UW will get a week off before heading off to the Pac 12 Championships in Pullman.  The Pac is loaded with good golf teams this season.  UW will enter play as one of the favorites, but will need to have their senior leader, CT Pan, bounce back from his mini-slump in order to have a chance to challenge for the title.

Go DAWGS!

Huskies Finish Fifth At Western Intercollegiate

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – No. 8 Washington finished off a tough week at the Western Intercollegiate, finishing fifth against a stacked field at the Pasatiempo Golf Course. The Dawgs shot 11-over 361 for their final round in difficult conditions to finish 33 shots back of No. 3 Texas.

"This week was a really tough field and a really tough course," said head coach Matt Thurmond. "I've never seen it play harder. We learned a lot and it is great preparation for the postseason events coming up."

The Longhorns ran away with the victory with a great final round, shooting 10-under for the day. They finished at 2-over for the week, winning by 14 strokes. No. 14 Oregon placed second at 16 over, one better than No. 13 Stanford who was third. No. 2 Arizona State placed fourth at 25-over, joining the Longhorns as the only other team under for the final round.

The Huskies finished up a long week that started by winning the Redhawk Invitational at Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open.

"It was a very long week, physically and emotionally," said Thurmond. "We had two big events on two really demanding courses. We are exhausted."

The Dawgs were led by Corey Pereira who earned his fifth top-10 finish of the season. Pereira shot a final round of 1-under 69 to finish at 1-under 209 for the championship. The sophomore closed with six birdies on the day to finish eight shots back of Scottie Scheffler of Texas who won the tournament at 9-under.

"Corey had a really good week," said Thurmond. "There is more of that to come."

Frank Garber also played well, finishing in 16^th place at 4-over 214. Garber fired a round of 3-over 73 on Sunday, making two birdies to go with five bogeys.

Also with a top-20 finish was Jonathan Sanders who placed in a tie for 20^th at 6-over. Sanders made five birdies on the day, but three double bogeys left his round at 3-over 73.

Cheng-Tsung Pan bounced back from a subpar second round with a better day on Sunday.

He also shot 3-over 73 to finish tied for 40^th at 11-over 221.

The final scoring player on Sunday in the tournament that counts five out of six was Greg Gildea. The freshman made it four Huskies with a final round of 73, making four birdies on the day. Gildea finished tied for 54^th at 15-over for the week.

Tyler Salsbury rounded out the Husky squad in a tie for 83^rd. Salsbury closed with a round of 8-over 78 to finish at 28-over for the tournament.

The Dawgs will now have a week off before heading to Pullman to compete in the Pac-12 Championships at Palouse Ridge on April 27-29.