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UA freshman uses quick start to win PING title

In his second tournament as a Wildcat, freshman Ricky Barnes maintained his consistency after an impressive first round and won the PING Arizona Intercollegiate Tournament yesterday in Tucson.

Barnes, who shot an opening-round 65 at the par 71 Raven Golf Club, carded a 9-under-par 204 for the tournament to walk away with the individual title.

"It was a great confidence booster," Barnes said. "I was lighting it up on that course."

Southern California's Nick Jones took second place with a 208, while California's Han Lee finished third with a 210.

In the team competition, the No. 24 UA men's golf team finished second, behind USC, despite having the top team score entering into the final round.

The Wildcats entered the third and final round of play yesterday with a team score of 562, one stroke better than USC's team score of 563.

Arizona, however, lost its lead after shooting nine over and closed out the tournament with a 855. The Trojans shot a 848 to claim the team title.

"We played two decent rounds and one bad one that threw us off guard. Individually, it is great to win, but the team is what it is about," Barnes said.

Of the 19 teams in the tournament, seven were ranked in the top 25. Sixth-ranked Arizona State was the top team representing the Pacific 10 Conference. The Sun Devils finished ninth.

No. 23 New Mexico finished third by shooting a final team score of 861. San Diego State finished fourth, and No. 11 Stanford and No. 19 UCLA tied for fifth.

Senior Scott Moore finished in a tie for 12th after shooting 2-under 69 in the final round. Cody Beyer, a sophomore, fell into a tie for 18th after posting a 77 in the final round.

UA senior Derek Gillespie, who entered the tournament confident of his chances to win the individual competition, finished the tournament tied for 26th after shooting a 6-over-par 219.