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Arizona finishes 5th at Pac-10 Championships

The Arizona men's golf team finished fifth yesterday after playing their final round at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, held at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe.

The No. 10 Wildcats, who shot a final round score of 2-over-par 362, closed out the tournament, posting a three-day score of 3-over-par 1443. Arizona State, who shot a tournament record of 56-under-par 1384, set another record by winning their sixth consecutive Pac-10 Championship.

"ASU played phenomenal," All-American senior Derek Gillespie said. "No one could have beat them on their best day."

Oregon State finished second behind Arizona State, shooting a three-day total of 19-under-par 1421, while California finished in third, posting a three-day total of 1428, which is 12-under-par.

Individually, Arizona State's Paul Casey, who shot a tournament record 23-under-par 265, won his third straight Pac-10 Championship. Finishing in second place behind Casey was Oregon State's Tim Mickelson, who is the younger brother of PGA golfer Phil Mickelson.

The younger Mickelson shot a 13-under-par 275.

Wildcat freshman Ricky Barnes, who finished the tournament tied for third, was the top finisher for Arizona. Barnes, who had his best round yesterday, shooting a 4-under-par 68, shot a three-day total 10-under-par 278.

"I played pretty well this week," Barnes said. "I was happy with my performance."

Other than Barnes, Gillespie was the only other Wildcat to shoot under par for the tournament. Gillespie, who shot under par for each round of the tournament, finished tied for seventh, shooting a three-day total of 8-under-par 280. Gillespie was not happy with the fact that Barnes and himself were the only two Wildcats to shoot under par for the tournament.

"Ricky and I played all right, but the rest of the team didn't perform as well," Gillespie said. "All we want is for our bottom of the lineup to shoot under par, and if we see that, we are on our way. We can't have them shooting like that."

Barnes agreed.

"You can't really compete for a Pac-10 Championship if your bottom guys don't play well," Barnes said.

Finishing tied for 30th place was sophomore Cody Beyer, who shot a three-day total of 3-over-par 291, while freshman Reid Hatley tied for 45th place, shooting an 8-over-par 296.

"I felt as if I let the team down individually and I didn't play as well as I hoped," Hatley said. "We can't play well unless our bottom four can play good."