It has been a frustrating season so far for Bellingham's Matt Rawitzer (right), a junior at Oregon State University. The former Squalicum High School player who began his college career at the University of Idaho before transferring to OSU at the start of last year, has made five appearances but never quite hit full stride the result, no doubt, of two bouts of tonsilitis. His scoring average from 16 competitive rounds is 74.38, his best finish prior to last week's Pac-12 Championship a tie for 14th at the Fresno State Lexus Classic in Fresno, Calif. where the Beavers finished first despite no one on the team placing in the top-ten individually. But at Trysting Tree GC, venue for the first ever playing of the Pac-12 Men's Conference Championship, Rawitzer showed he has the game to compete with some of the best college players in the country.
An opening 75 on the 7,030-yard, Ted Robinson-designed course, was followed by a two-under 70 then an excellent three-under 69 in Saturday's third round. Yesterday's 73 saw Rawitzer finish in an encouraging tie for 13th on one-under 287, 13 shots behind Stanford's Andrew Yun who claimed a two-shot victory over Oregon's Daniel Miernicki.
The Beavers finished in fifth place, on seven-over 1447. California won the tournament after beating Oregon at the second extra hole after the teams had finished regulation play on 1428.
Scores here.
I have been out of town for ten days and unable to post. So I missed reporting the news that the Vikings had won their fifth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship with a resounding 26-shot victory at the Coeur d'Alene Resort course where four of the five-man team finished in the top five. Craig Crawford was medalist with a one-under total of 212 while Dylan Goodwin came in a stroke behind.
I won't give you all the details because the event finished six days ago. But the result did make me wonder if it isn't about time that WWU found itself another conference. No disrespect to the other teams and, coming from England, I don't really know how these things work, but it seems to me the Vikings would benefit from challenging themselves against better opposition. Forgive me if I'm talking out of turn here, but five straight victories, the latest by 26 shots, suggests the team is in a different class to the others and should perhaps request a transfer. I'm not sure what the alternatives are but I for one would be very interested to see how the Vikings fared against teams in the Pac-12.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
Scores here.
