NWC Men's Golf: Loggers, Wildcats, Boxers
Have Inside Track on Conference Crown

News Release Date:
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Puget Sound, Linfield and Pacific have the inside track on the 2011 Northwest Conference men's golf title as teams converge this Friday and Saturday at Canyon Lakes in Kennewick, Wash.

The 36-hole NWC Championship tournament, hosted by Whitman College and its head coach Peter McClure, will count for 50 percent of the season-long point totals that determine the final conference standings.

Puget Sound heads to the weekend in first place in the standings with 15 points, based on its victory at last October's Fall Classic (Juniper, Redmond, Ore.) and its runner-up showing early this month at the Spring Classic (Links at Hawks Prairie, Lacey, Wash.).

Linfield, which was third in the fall and first in the spring, is in second place with 14 points. Pacific has 13 points after taking second in the fall and third in the spring.

By winning this weekend's tournament, any one of the top three teams can finish first in the final standings and walk away for the NWC title, regardless of where the other two teams finish.

The rest of the conference standings and point totals look like this: Whitworth 10, Whitman 8, Pacific Lutheran 6, George Fox 4, Willamette 2, and Lewis & Clark 0.

The team that wins this weekend's tournament gets 16 points. Second place is good for 14 points with 12 points going to the third-place finisher. Available points go down by two points for each subsequent place.

This weekend's winner also gets an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national championships.

Round one of the tournament gets underway at 11 a.m. Friday. Round two is set for 9 a.m. Saturday.

Led by medalist and Player of the Year Ryan Young (now a senior), Whitworth won the NWC title a year ago. Linfield was second, Puget Sound third and Pacific fourth.

Because he was the medalist at both of this year's two classic tournaments, Pacific senior Max Bonk has already nailed down All-NWC honors for a fourth straight season. Bonk was NWC Player of the Year in both 2009 and 2008.

The final 2011 All-NWC team, to include at least six players, will be determined by this weekend's highest finishers and ties. The tournament's medalist also earns individual championship honors for the season.

Other golfers in this weekend's field with past All-NWC honors on their resumes are Linfield's Alex Fitch (twice) and Yutaro Sakamoto; Pacific's Ben Wright; and Whitman's Brian Barton.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu