May 12, 2008
(San Diego, CA) - The USD men's golf team, under the direction of 5th-year head coach Tim Mickelson, will be making their second appearance in three years at the NCAA Western Regionals. This season the Toreros earned the West Coast Conference automatic bid into the Regionals after holding off Pepperdine and Saint Mary's in the 2008 WCC Championships. In 2006 the Toreros were selected as an at-large team. USD is the #24 seed with 27 teams and six individuals participating in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf West Regional to be hosted by the University of Washington at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, WA, May 15-17. The top ten teams and the top two individuals not on an advancing team will move on to compete in the NCAA Championship hosted byPurdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, May 28-31.
Coach Mickelson (5th year) - Coach Mickelson earned his second WCC Coach of the Year honor after leading the Toreros to the program's first ever WCC title. He shared the honor with Bill Winter of Portland and Scott Hardy of Saint Mary's. This past season the Toreros closed strong finishing in the top 5 in four of their final five tournaments - WCC's (1st), Ron Moore (5th), Barona Collegiate Cup (3rd), and USD Callaway (2nd).
Toreros heading to NCAA's - USD's five players competing this week at the NCAA's include junior Jake Yount (Danville, CA), the 2008 WCC Player of the Year; junior Darrin Hall (Golden, CO), the 2008 WCC runner-up and 2007 NCAA Individual qualifier; junior Blake Trimble (Rancho Santa Fe, CA), the WCC Player of the Month for April; sophomore Dale Smith (Saltburn by the Sea, England), 2008 First Team All-WCC; and freshman Jason Shano (Scottsdale, AZ). Yount and Hall were named 1st Team All-WCC, while Smith was tabbed honorable mention. Individual season stroke averages - Darrin Hall (73.53; 30 rounds), Blake Trimble (73.73; 33 rounds), Jake Yount (74.07; 27 rounds), Dale Smith (74.08; 12 rounds) and Jason Shano (74.63; 24 rounds).
The Field at NCAA West Regional - (In order of seed) No. 1 USC, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 UNLV, No. 7 North Carolina, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 9 Central Florida, No. 10 Arizona State, No. 11 San Diego State, No. 12 Texas, No. 13 LSU, No. 14 Oregon State, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 California, No. 18 Saint Mary's, No. 19 Kentcuky, No. 20 Wisconsin, No. 21 Washington, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 23 Kansas State, No. 24 San Diego, No. 25 Denver, No. 26 Navy, No. 27 Columbia. The individuals are Troy Merritt of Boise State, Brian Locke of LMU, Tarquin Macmanus of Arizona, Jason D'Amore of LMU, Nathan Stamey of North Carolina-Greensboro, and Jimmy Lytle of Elon.
The Format - Fifty-four holes of stroke play golf over three days will decide the team and individual champions. The tournament features 18 holes of play each day starting at 7 a.m. (PT). The final groups on Thursday, May 15, will tee off at 1:43 p.m. with the final groups on Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, teeing off at 1:37 pm. Teams will consist of five players (with four scores counting each day toward the team total). First and second round team pairings are determined by seeding. Following the second round of competition, team scores shall determine pairings. Split tees (No. 1 and No. 10) will be used during each round.
The Course - Gold Mountain Golf Club is located in Bremerton, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, just over 60 miles from the UW campus in Seattle. The West Regional field will play Gold Mountain's Olympic Course at par 72 and 7,111 yards. Gold Mountain has served as the site for the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links and the 2007 Washington State Amateur.
Results - Live scoring of the NCAA West Regional Championship will be available at golfstat.com. Results will also be available on USD's official athletic website, USDToreros.com.
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