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Men's golf in 4th after day 1

Although the Arizona men's golf team shot a 1-under-par 719 yesterday at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, they finished in a disappointing fourth place.

The tournament, which is being held at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, had ideal game conditions for the first two rounds of play.

"The course was playing so easy and the weather was perfect," Arizona head coach Rick LaRose said last night. "We were all a little disappointed and we just needed to play better than we played."

Tournament leader Arizona State, which has the home course advantage, dominated the first day by shooting a 30-under-par 690, which was 30 strokes better than the Wildcats.

"We were right in the hunt but, Arizona State walked away with it," LaRose said. "They played a great first round."

The Wildcats were in the hunt for the lead until they had a disastrous ninth hole.

"We played bad on one hole," LaRose said. "It cost us 13 shots."

Even though the Wildcat's are in fourth place and shot under par during the first day of play, it will be hard to catch up to Arizona State.

"They got such a big led that it will be tough to make that up," LaRose said.

Oregon is currently in second, shooting a 13-under par 707, while California is in third with a 9-under par 711.

Individually, freshmen Ricky Barnes was the top finisher for the Wildcats, as he is in seventh with a 4-under-par 140. Barnes began the first round of the day shooting a 1-under par-71 and shot a 3-under par-69 in the second round.

All-American senior Derek Gillespie is tied for eighth after shooting a 3-under-par 14. Freshmen Patrick Norris, who is tied for 41st, was feeling ill after the tournament and needed medical assistance.

"It might be the sun but it might be something else. I don't know right now," LaRose said.

At press time, it was still undetermined whether or not Norris will play today. If he doesn't play, the Wildcat's will have one less score to choose from as tournament officials take the best four out of six individual scores to accumulate the team score.

"If he doesn't play, our backs are to the wall and everyone needs to step it up," LaRose said. "Hopefully he will be O.K.."

The third round of play starts today while the final round of the 72-hole tournament is scheduled for tomorrow.