Men and Women's Golf Update

In my effort to feed the community with a few tidbits of Golf info, I thought I'd pass along some recent developments in an abbreviated form.  I apologize for my brevity here, but I'm about to get on a small plane and won't have the luxury of wifi on-board (not that I would care anyhow ... I have two episodes of "Better Call Saul" to get caught up on).

The Women's Golf team finished Day 2 of Pac 12 Tournament play earlier today and ended up three shots off of the lead.  The #7 Huskies are right in contention among a crowded leaderboard sitting fourth behind UCLA, Oregon and Arizona.

"We've waited all year for this and all we wanted was an opportunity," said head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. "We are in good position to go put up a number tomorrow and see if that holds up."

This tournament, which is being hosted in Boulder this year, has never been won by a team outside of the states of California or Arizona.  The Huskies will need a strong push from all their players, including reigning Player of the Month Jennifer Yang, if they are to make up ground in tomorrow's final day and to win their first ever conference championship.

The Men's team is also preparing for the Pac 12 tournament to be held this year in Pullman.  As they do so, they've benefited from some recent good news.

Of most interest to fans will be the news that senior CT Pan has been named as a finalist for the Ben Hogan award recognizing the most outstanding collegiate golfer.  This is the fourth year (fourth!) that Pan has finished as one of the 10 semifinalists for the award.  He is the first golfer in college golf history to achieve that feat.

Pan, currently the fifth ranked amateur in the world, is looking to become the third Husky to ever win the Hogan award - the equivalent of Golf's "Heisman".  Chris Williams (2013) and Nick Taylor (2010) have also won, both under the development of current head Golf coach Matt Thurmond.

The field will be further trimmed to three finalists before the winner is announced on May 18th.

However it turns out, Husky fans will be celebrating a legendary senior just as they welcome in a new star recruit.  UW announced last week that Carl Yuan of China has been added to the incoming freshman class.  Yuan, who currently is attending Lake Mary Prep in Orlando and training at the Eagles Dream Academy, is currently ranked the #13 prep in the American Junior Golf Association Polo Boys Ranking (that just sounds wrong, doesn't it?).

"Carl has had a lot of success at various levels in many places," said Thurmond. "He has a great all-around game and huge potential. He also has a great personality and vibe about him. I really enjoyed this recruiting process and I look forward to working to help him reach his goals and dreams."

Yuan is a coup for Coach Thurmond and another sign of how strong the UW Men's Golf program has become on the national stage.  The incoming freshman has already had great success as an amateur and is very well known in the national youth golf world.  Even at his young age, he's ranked as the #304 amateur in the world.  He'll be the second incoming freshman along with Sammamish's Matt Marrese.

Go Dawgs!