UA senior Creigton Honeck finished as the best competitor in the Pacific 10 Conference Championships yesterday at Meadows Golf Club in Fairfax, Calif., but it wasn’t enough to pull the Arizona men’s golf team out of a big hole.
Arizona posted a 4-under-par on the day – it was the only squad to finish under par – which was good enough for a sixth-place finish.
A third-day 26-over-par implosion due to gusty winds Tuesday, however, left Arizona one spot shy of the fifth place spot necessary to qualify it for the NCAA West Regionals.
“”I am disappointed we aren’t going to regionals as a team,”” Honeck said. “”We bounced back (yesterday), but honestly, we shouldn’t have been in this position in the first place. … We had an excellent game plan going in, but we just fell short.””
While Arizona won’t be going to the regional competition as a team, Honeck will compete as an individual after he took down UCLA’s Kevin Chappell in a sudden-death playoff as each golfer finished the fourth day of competition deadlocked at 3-under par. Honeck birded the par-4 10th hole, Chappell could only muster a par and the end result was the first career win for Honeck.
“”The individual win is bittersweet,”” Honeck said. “”I’m disappointed about the team, but it’s a cool way to go out.””
ASU won the team competition in an equally dra matic fashion. The Sun Devils (15-over-par) beat USC (15 over) to earn the team title which also came down to a playoff.
California (18 over) finished in third place while UCLA (19 over) and Stanford (20 over) rounded out the top-five team finishers.
Arizona freshman Tarquin MacManus finished in a tie for 24th place after shooting an 8-over-par with junior Nick Park not far behind in a 27th place tie at 9-under-par. Senior Mark Lamb finished right behind them (10 over, 32nd) with junior Tyler Neal (15 over, 47th) and freshman Roberto Galleti (16 over, 50th) rounding out the Wildcat scoring.
Honeck said the best advice he can give the young guys for next season is to “”understand that every shot makes a difference,”” something UA head coach Rick LaRose has preached to the entire team throughout the season.
“”They need to stay positive, because each shot adds up,”” Honeck said.
