Fresno State Athletics
Watney Regains National GolfStat No. 1 Ranking
5/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 2, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - After a strong performance at the 2003 WAC Championships, senior golfer Nick Watney returned to the top spot of the national Golfstat Cup rankings this week.
Watney spent last week ranked second behind Clemon's D.J. Trahan. Watney has spent more weeks ranked No. 1 than any other player. He has been ranked in the top five all season long.
Watney overcame a 5-stroke deficit to tie for the WAC championship played this week at The Colonial in Houston, Texas. He lost the title to Tulsa's David Inglis, the nation's No. 12 ranked player, on the third playoff hole. His second round of 66 tied the competitive course record.
He is ahead of pace to break the NCAA single-season scoring average record, and in the process become only the sixth player in NCAA history with a sub-70 season scoring average. He is currently at 69.58, the only player in the nation with a sub-70 scoring average.
Watney has five tournament wins in 2002-03, most of any player in the nation, and he shattered the Bite/Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Tournament record with a 67-64-68 -- 199.
Other accomplishments during this season include six straight sub-70 rounds, a stretch of eight of 11 sub-70 competitive tournament rounds, and 10 top-10 finishes.
Watney was selected the 2003 WAC Player of the Year for the third straight season, becoming the first player in WAC history to win that award three times.
Fresno State, winner of the 2003 WAC title, will play in the NCAA Western Regional Tournament at Washington National in Seattle, Wash May 15-17.
