Men's team fails to win back-to-back crowns

The Arizona men's golf team was unable to take its second Pacific 10 Conference championship in a row yesterday in Walla Walla, Wash., finishing in third place despite rising on the team leaderboard on each day of the tournament.

Senior Nathan Lashley shot a two-under 69 in the final round to finish with a seven-under 277, one stroke behind individual champion Erik Olson of Washington.

The Wildcats ended Monday in sixth place and moved up to fourth Tuesday, before shooting a one-over 354 yesterday to overcome UCLA (16-over 371) and Stanford (10-over 365).

The Huskies and ASU finished the tournament tied for first place (five-over 1425), but Washington took the conference title because of a better team performance in the final round.

Sophomore Henry Liaw (three-under 68) jumped up 14 spots to finish tied for 14th with a one-under 285, as all six competing Wildcats ended in the top 50.

Freshman Travis Esway recovered from a second-round 76 to finish tied for 19th place (three-over 287). His opening round 68 matched Lashley (rounds one and three) and Liaw for Arizona's best single-round performance.

The Sun Devils' Pat Moore dropped to third place after leading the tournament through three rounds. He shot a final-round 76 after leading the field by four strokes.

Southern California's Joshua Wooding matched Moore's tournament low with a final round 67, rising 21 spots to finish in a tie for 17th.

The Cardinal's Rob Grube ended with a three-over 74, dropping him from a tie for second to fourth place overall.

Lashley's previous top finish in the tournament came last season, when he ended in 20th place, as Arizona made up a 14-stroke deficit in the final round to win its third conference title.

The Wildcats return to action May 19-21 for the NCAA West Regionals in Palo Alto, Calif.