April 28, 2005
Sophomore Erik Olson and the Washington Huskies both came from behind Wednesday, to win the individual and team titles at the Pacific-10 Conference men’s golf championships at the par 71, 6,606-yard Walla
Walla Country Club in Walla Walla, Wash.
Olson came into the final round tied for second place, four strokes behind the leader, Arizona State senior Pat Moore.
Olson posted a 2-under 69 in the final round to win the individual title by one stroke. Olson finished with an 8-under 276. Arizona senior Nathan Lashley finished second at 7-under 277.
Moore, who just missed capturing his second consecutive individual title, finished in third place at 5-under 279.
Moore was one of three Sun Devils to finish the tournament in the top 10. Niklas Lemke finished tied for seventh with a 1-under 283. Alejandro Canizares finished tied for 10th with an even-par 284.
The Huskies, who earned an automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional Championships and their first Pac-10 team title since 1988 with their victory, came into the final round in fifth place, 17 strokes behind third-round leader ASU.
Led by the play of Olson as well as sophomore Alex Prugh and junior James Lepp, Washington posted the lowest team score of the final round at 350, finishing the day tied with the Sun Devils at 5-over 1,425.
Pac-10 Conference rules stipulate in the event of a tie, each team’s cumulative six-man score in the final round will decide the tournament. ASU shot a team score of 367 in the final round.
Arizona finished third (8-over 1,428), followed by UCLA (1,432) and Oregon (1,436).
The victory marks the first of Olson’s career and the first individual conference title for the Huskies since 1988.
"This feels awesome," Olson said. "It feels amazing. This is my first college victory, and it just happens to be the Pac-10 Championship."
