University of Arizona
ASU/Thunderbird Invitational
Arizona Leads ASU Thunderbird Invitational
04/02/2010 | Men's Golf
April 2, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. - The ASU Thunderbird Invitational includes six of the the top ten teams in the nation, and 11 of the top 40. The Wildcats, who fall in neither of those two categories, are in first place after two rounds.
At 14 under, Arizona leads the event by two strokes over 14th ranked USC. The two teams were tied for first after round one. Jonathan Khan is tied for fifth place at five-under.
Host ASU, who has won the event the past two years, and 14 of the last 21 years, is currently 13 strokes back, and in need of a miraculous comeback in order to make it three straight.
The Wildcats take a lead into the final round for the second time all season; the first time was Arizona's lone victory in the Braveheart Classic. USC is in second after back to back 278 (-6)'s. Sixth ranked UCLA is only four back of the Cats at ten-under. Eighth ranked ASU is the final team under par at one under. Fourth ranked Oregon is one over and tied for fifth with UC-Irvine.
The field includes 16 teams, including all ten Pac-10 teams, who occupy eight of the top-10 slots. The two highest ranked teams, no. 2 Stanford and no. 3 Washington are tied for seventh, 17 strokes off the lead.
Steve Lim of USC has a two stroke lead in the tournament at nine under. J.J. Spaun of San Diego State shot a 135 (-7) is in second. UC-Irvine's John Chin and Washington State's Kevin Tucker are tied for third at six under. Khan and Eugene Wong of Oregon are tied for fifth, four strokes back.
Khan is looking for his third top-10 finish of the year. Rich Saferian could also pick up his third top-10 finish on the season with a solid effort tomorrow; the senior is tied for 11th. Tarquin MacManus is tied for 18th at one under. Philip Bagdade recovered from a rough first round, a 77 (+6), with a brilliant second, a 67 (-4), the best round for any UA golfer on the day. The sophomore is tied for 34th, along with Juan Pablo Hernandez, who also had one good round, a 69 (-2), and one bad round, a 75 (+4). Trent Redfern, who is competing as an individual, is tied for 30th, playing the first round at par, picking up his best round of the year. Also competing as an individual, Kenji Hernandez is in 88th.
Arizona hopes to earn its second win of the season tomorrow when things tee off at 7 a.m. MST. The ASU Thunderbird Invitational is being competed at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz., a par 71, 7,057 yard course that is also the site for the Pac-10 Championship later this month.
Live stats will be available at golfstat.com for tomorrow's third and final round.
Top Five Teams
1 Arizona 278 276 554 -14
2 USC 278 278 556 -12
3 UCLA 281 277 558 -10
4 ASU 291 276 567 -1
5 Oregon 287 282 569 +1
UC-Irvine 290 279 569 +1
Top Five Individuals
1 Steve Lim, USC 68 65 133 -9
2 J.J. Spaun, San Diego State 69 66 135 -7
3 John Chin, UC-Irvine 72 64 136 -6
Kevin Tucker, Washington State 68 68 136 -6
5 Eugene Wong, Oregon 69 68 137 -5
Jonathan Khan, Arizona 68 69 137 -5
Arizona Finishers
T5 Jonathan Khan 68 69 137 -5
T11 Rich Saferian 70 70 140 -2
T18 Tarquin MacManus 71 70 141 -1
T30 Trent Redfern* 71 72 143 +1
T34 Philip Bagdade 77 67 144 +2
T34 Juan Pablo Hernandez 69 75 144 +2
88 Kenji Hernandez* 83 77 160 +18
*Competing as an individual
