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Bronco men’s golf heads to WAC championship
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Boise State’s men’s golf team will tee off on Monday, May 2, in the 2005 Wells Fargo Western Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship Tournament. The team will travel to Choudrant, La., as Louisiana Tech will host the tournament at the Squire Creek Country Club.
The Broncos finished last year’s WAC tournament tied with Fresno State in fourth place. SMU was crowned conference champ last year and will be looking to repeat while fending off the 2003 and 2002 champions, Fresno State and Tulsa. At last year’s tournament, Tulsa’s David Inglis became the second golfer in NCAA history to win is conference title four years in a row. The only other player to do it was pro golfer Justin Leonard at Texas.
2004 All-WAC First Team honoree Graham DeLaet is red-shirting this year with plans to return to the Bronco team next season when they host the WAC championships here in Boise.
“He has definitely been missed,” head coach Mike Young said of DeLaet. “It makes a 15 to 20 stroke difference in the tournaments without him here.”
The Broncos came away with a second place finish in the Bronco Round-Up last October here in Boise. BSU Juniors Brett Kleinkopf and Jason Williams both placed in the top 10 at fourth and ninth to help the Broncos’ standing. Another Bronco junior, Adam Choy, is the team’s top finisher from last year’s WAC title, where Choy finished tied for eighth. Choy leads the Broncos with three top 15 finishes this season, highlighted by a tie for sixth at the Miranda Falcon Invitational at the beginning of the season.
The Broncos closed out the season with a 17th place finish at the Ping Cougar Classic and a ninth place finish in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic. Williams and Freshman Matt Hastings were the Broncos’ top finishers as they tied for 48th in the BYU tournament. Hastings picked up a top 10 finish in the Wyoming tourney, finishing eighth. Fellow freshman Nick Travers also had a successful tournament as he finished tied for 42nd.
Hastings’ showing at the Cowboy Classic could have wound up much better for the freshman if it weren’t for a little bad luck. A pitch onto the green on one particular hole would have put him in position to birdie had it not struck another ball and rolled out of bounds to cost Hastings two strokes. He ended the hole with a double bogey. The birdie would have given him a three stroke swing and possibly won him the tournament.
“Right now Matt Hastings is our best player,” coach Young said. “He started coming on late in the fall and never looked back. He kind of reminds me of DeLaet when he was a freshman.”
Coach Young has been leading the Bronco men’s golf team for a few years now, after many years with the wrestling team. This year’s team being so young, with freshman like Hastings and a solid core of juniors coming back next year when DeLaet returns, coach Young will have something to look forward to in years to come after what he hopes will be a successful showing on Monday.
Jeremy Rasmussen
Sports Writer
