Washington men’s golf team goes low, captures the NCAA West Regional

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Updated: June 1, 2010

The No. 1 seeded Husky men’s golf team ran laps around the rest of the NCAA West Regional field, winning the team title by an impressive 29 strokes and sweeping the top three individual spots at Bremerton’s Gold Mountain Golf Course.

Washington was collectively 20-under par to secure one of five spots for the NCAA Championships to be held in Chattanooga, Tenn. starting June 1. It is Washington’s second regional title as the Huskies also shared the regional title in 2002.

Without their best player Nick Taylor clicking on all cylinders, Richard Lee, freshman Chris Williams and senior Darren Wallace stepped up to the plate for the Huskies. Lee finished at 8-under 208 to finish two strokes ahead of Williams, while Wallace was 5-under 211 to tie Denver’s Espen Kofstad for third. It was the first tournament this year that Taylor did not finish among Washington’s top three finishers.

Lee shot his second-consecutive round of 4-under 68 to become UW’s first ever NCAA Regional champion. Lee, a second-team All-Pac-10 performer, had three birdies and an eagle-two on the Par-4, 15th hole to claim his first collegiate individual championship.

Williams shot a course record-tying 7-under 65 in the final round to move up from 11th in the standings. Included in his stellar round was a hole-in-one on the 207-yard, Par-3 eighth hole. His ball dunked into the hole without rolling, catching the front lip of the cup as it found it’s mark. The grounds crew had move the hole about a foot after Williams’ shot destroyed the cup. For Williams, it was his first-ever ace and left him unfazed.

In the team standings, USC was second at +9. The other three teams to qualify for the NCAA Championships were San Diego (+10), Oregon State (+12) and Illinois (+13).