Fresno State Athletics
Golf Heads to San Jose
4/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 2, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Bulldogs Travel to San Jose
Fresno State will return to some home state action when they compete in the Western Intercollegiate hosted at the Pasatiempo Golf Course by San Jose State on April 2-3. In its 55th year, the tournament will pit the `Dogs in a race with three other District 7 teams fighting for two spots in the NCAA tournament play. San Diego State, Hawaii and Nevada will all be competing in San Jose this week. The course is a par 70, 6,483 yards and has a rating or 72.7.
Watney in Top Five
Sophomore Nick Watney jumped from a ranking of 22 in the Golfstat Cup national ranking on March 27 to fifth on March 30. Watney moved up to ninth after a 54-hole school record finish of 200 in San Diego on March 19-20. He then finished T5th in Texas last week with a two-round score of 141. For the fourth consecutive week, Watney leads the WAC in the Golfstat Cup and Golfweek/Sagarin ranking of 11. Watney has competed in 22 rounds this year and has a 70.86 average. He set a career low of 65 in round three at Hawaii and has won two tournaments this year. The Bulldog from Dixon, Calif. was named WAC Golfer of the Week for the week of March 19-25.
Smith Garners National Attention
Nick Watney is not the only Bulldog to make national top-10. Junior Dustin Smith (Crescent City, Calif.) ranks fifth in the nation for putts on green according to Golfstat national statistics. As of March 22, Smith's percentage of 1.77 was the highest in the WAC and fifth in the nation. Smith transferred from St. Mary's Junior College last season and was a redshirt. He is only the second Bulldog to compete in all of the 22 rounds this season and posted a career-low 65 in Hawaii.
Rained Out in Austin
Fresno State finished 10th at the Morris Williams Invitational, held at the Austin Country Club after severe thunderstorms caused the third round to be canceled. The `Dogs shot a two-round total score of 595. Georgia Tech won the tournament with both the team and individual titles. The team scored 573 and Bryce Molder from Georgia Tech scored 67-68-135 to win the title. Nick Watney led the `Dogs with his finish of T5th. Watney shot 71-70-141 on the course where he claimed his first collegiate top-20 finish last year. The only other Bulldog to finish in the top-25 was freshman Brandon Coats (Fresno, Calif.). Coats shot 74-73-147 and finishing at T25th. Junior Jonathon Echols (Hanford, Calif.) placed T50th, shooting 71-80-151. Following Echols, fellow junior Dustin Smith finished at T73, shooting 79-77-156. Finishing off the Bulldog lineup was sophomore Daniel Timmons (Carson City, Nev.). In only his third appearance of the year, Timmons scored 88-80-168 finishing 82nd.
THIS WEEKApr. 2-3 Mon.-Tue. Western Intercollegiate Pasatiempo G.C. San Jose, Calif.NEXT ACTIONApr. 13-14 Fri.-Sat. ASU Thunderbird Invtie. ASU Karsten G.C. Tempe, Ariz.
LAST ACTIONMar. 26-27 Mon.-Tue. CG Morris Williams Invite. Austin C.C. 10th
