April 22, 2008
Results
Big West Conference Results
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. Junior Nate Pistacchio carded a final-round 68 on Tuesday at the Big West Conference Championships on his way to a tie for third before later being named all-conference as the UC Davis men's golf team finished second at its inaugural league tournament.
Pistacchio was one of three Aggies earning All-Big West Conference honors which were announced following the tournament claimed by UC Irvine. Pistacchio was named to the first team while teammate freshman Austin Graham and junior Ramie Sprinkling received second-team accolades.
Graham and teammate Gregg Button each tied for sixth at the Big West tournament.
The Aggies were trying to win the Big West championship in just their first year of conference membership and were tied with UC Irvine at 5-under going into Tuesday's final round at the par-72, 6,918-yard Tijeras Creek Golf Club. UC Davis tied its second-round score of 4-under 288 but the Anteaters had a tournament-best 10-under 278 to pull away down the stretch. They earned the league's automatic bid to next month's NCAA West Regional at Bremerton, Wash.
It was a two-team battle for the conference championship on Tuesday with only UC Irvine (15 under) and UC Davis (9 under) finishing below par. Cal State Northridge finished 18 shots behind the Aggies in third at 9-over and was followed by Pacific, UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside in the top six of the eight-team tournament.
Pistacchio earned his season-best tie for third after posting his third round below 70 in his past nine. He started very strong by blitzing the back nine - he started on the 10th hole - for a 5-under 31 after garnering birdies on three of his first four holes and four of his first six. He was at 6-under after posting another birdie on the par-5 first before coming in at 4-under. Pistacchio finished the championship at 5-under 211.
Teammate Gregg Button followed his second-round 69 with another strong round on Tuesday, finishing with five birdies on his way to a 2-under 70. He played each side 1-under. Graham, the Big West Golfer of the Month for April, played consistent golf throughout the tournament, backing up his two rounds of 71 on Monday with a 72 on Tuesday. He finished with 14 pars, two birdies and just two bogeys on Tuesday.
Senior Matt Marshall tied for 14th at 4-over 220 after firing a 76 in the final round while Sprinkling had three birdies on his front nine and made the turn at 3-under before posting a solid 74. He tied for 18th at the Big West tournament.
Pistacchio earned his All-Big West first-team honors after averaging 73.1 strokes and posting three top-10 finishes during the 2007-08 season. Prior to this week, he was most recently tied for ninth at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic - which UC Davis won - where he tied a school record with a 5-under 65 in the first round. He also tied for sixth at the Stockton Sports Commission Pacific Invitational in November. Pistacchio has seven rounds below 70 and one other round of 65.
Graham, a second-team honoree, has enjoyed a standout freshman campaign, posting a 72.7 average while finishing in the top 12 in his past three tournaments and four times this spring. He was also ninth at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, tied for 11th at the U.S. Intercollegiate at Stanford this past weekend and tied for eighth at the Rice Intercollegiate in February.
Sprinkling has a 73.3 average and a pair of fourth-place showings in 2007-08, tying for fourth at both the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in October and at the Rice tournament. Earlier this month, he had a 69 in the third round at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, his fifth sub-70 round.
Tournament medalist John Chin of UC Irvine was named the Big West Player of the Year, Nick Delio of Cal State Northridge was named Freshman of the Year and Paul Smolinski of UC Irvine was selected Coach of the Year.
BIG WEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
Tijeras Creek Golf Club
Par 72, 6,918 yards
Final
TEAM
1. UC Irvine, 286-285-278-849
2. UC Davis, 287-284-284-855
3. Cal State Northridge, 289-300-284-873
4. Pacific, 296-292-290-878
5. UC Santa Barbara, 296-296-293-885
6. UC Riverside, 298-297-293-888
7. Cal Poly, 304-299-290-893
8. Long Beach State, 310-310-288-908
INDIVIDUALS
1. John Chin, UCI, 73-68-68-207
UC DAVIS
T3. Nate Pistacchio, 71-72-68-211
T6. Austin Graham, 71-71-72-214
T6. Gregg Button, 75-69-70-214
T14. Matt Marshall, 72-72-76-220
T18. Ramie Sprinkling, 73-74-74-221
FIRST TEAM
John Chin, UC Irvine
Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge
Sean Shahi, UC Irvine
T.J. Bordeaux, Pacific
Nate Pistacchio, UC Davis
Tim Cha, UC Irvine
SECOND TEAM
Brian Hollenbeck, UC Santa Barbara
Austin Graham, UC Davis
Chris Satterlee, Cal State Northridge
Brycen Wagner, Cal Poly
Ramie Sprinkling, UC Davis
HONORABLE MENTION
Kenny Kim, UC Irvine
Michael Drake, Long Beach State
Nick Paez, UC Riverside
Matt Grush, UC Santa Barbara
Chris Rosenau, Pacific
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
John Chin, UC Irvine
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge
COACH OF THE YEAR
Paul Smolinski, UC Irvine
