March 10, 2009

Fresno, California -

The elite echelon of college golf will have to wait for another day.  The Tigers, poised to overtake much of the field after a respectable first day of the Fresno Lexus Classic, didn't stun anyone; they simply maintained their way to a 10^th place finish. A less than stellar opening round of 305 at Belmont Country Club had Pacific in the middle of a jumbled pack of area rivals and a second round 295 positioned them even closer to the top. Once more in the final round Pacific posted a 295 while accomplishing what has been more often than not the norm this year. They didn't jump into that category of Top 25 teams at the 20-school field but they didn't sink below the level they've quickly been accustomed to this season.

Without a marquee performance from anyone on their five-man roster the Tigers were left to grind it out on Belmont's hard and fast greens. The short (6,511-yard) course yielded a plethora of scores for the 100+ man field and the Tigers once again used a game plan of smart shotmaking to both keep whatever lead they had and catch those that let the course get the best of them.

The Tigers unlikely leaders came as the hands of Robert Perrott and Charlie Van Sicklen, both who finished in 31^st place after two-day totals of 223 (+7). Perrott, playing in only his fourth collegiate tournament, steadily improved throughout the tournament, posting scores of 77-74 and a final round 72. The freshman, under the watchful eyes of coach Brandon Goethals, played the best golf of his young collegiate career in his final round even par.

“Robert is relatively raw in his education and experience in the game,” said Goethals. “For him to finish how he did is a great harbinger of things to come for both him personally and the program as a whole.”

His senior counterpart, Van Sicklen, progressed much the same way throughout the week as he posted rounds of 76-74-73. TJ Bordeaux, leading the pack for Pacific after a first day 76-72 struggled down the stretch to a +5 77 on Tuesday, good for 40^th place. The Tigers also got a combination of scores from sophomores Patrick Kucich and Alex Johnson. While Johnson opened with a 73 it was Kucich who counted for the Tigers in the final two rounds with scores of 75 and 74.

“In the spectrum of our maturity as a program we're taking steps towards the goal,” reiterated Goethals. “Granted, they're very small steps but they continue to be in the right direction. We need that star performance to solidify ourselves as a top-tier team and we just don't have that right now.”

From a team standing the Tigers did better 9^th ranked Arizona State and Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma. 14^th ranked Washington took the team title while host Fresno State was right on their heels and rival Big West schools UC Irvine and UC Davis tied for 3^rd.