The Prestige at PGA West: de Beer propels TCU to title
TCU photo
LA QUINTA, Calif. (Oct. 14, 2008) -- Johan de Beer captured his first victory in his second collegiate tournament as the TCU newcomer led the Horned Frogs men's golf team to a triumph at The Prestige at PGA West held at the Greg Norman Course in La Quinta, Calif.
The Johannesburg, South Africa, standout recorded a birdie on two of the final four holes of action en route to securing a four-under-par score of 68 to tie with Nate Pistacchio of UC Davis for a six-under-par tally of 210 for the gold medal. After finishing the first round of action at even par - de Beer posted eight birdies and two bogeys over the final 36 holes of competition to tie for the tournament title.
UC Davis was the team runner-up at 871, ten strokes back of the Frogs.
"I'm extremely excited for Johan," said TCU head men's golf coach Bill Montigel. "He played incredibly well, especially over the last nine holes. It's hard to imagine that this was only his second collegiate tournament and he was able to win the whole thing with the great group of players here. I'm really happy and thrilled for him."
Travis Woolf and James Sacheck earned posted a top-five finish as the Frogs teammates recorded identical scores of 54 holes of action to finish with a tally of 217 (75-72-70).
Scott Roudebush collected a 30th-place showing with a score of 227 (72-85-70) where the Austin, Texas, native rebounded from a rough second round of action. Tom Hoge overcame a slow first round of action to tie for 54th overall following a score of 231 to aid the Frogs.
The Frogs - who came into the tournament ranked 61st in the nation - defeated 12 higher-ranked programs in the country en route to the victory. The Frogs posted a total score of 861 - including a nine-under-par score of 278 on the final 18 holes - to defeat UC Davis by 10 strokes for the win. Stanford, Central Florida and Washington - who are all ranked in the top-20 - rounded out the top-five at The Prestige at PGA West.
"This was a total team effort. The guys played incredibly well and to come into a tournament like this and put on the performance that we did really speaks volumes about this team. I'm so proud of the guys," added Montigel.
The Frogs will return to the links at the Columbia Invitational at the Galloway National Golf Course in Atlantic City, N.J., on October 24th for the three-day event.
David Johnson of the University of Central Florida took third at 211, while Stanford took third place in the team race.
--Courtesy TCU
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ABOUT THE The Prestige at PGA West
54 hole men's college tournament played in
California's Coachella Valley which features an all-
star field of many of major college golf's top teams
and players. The Prestige is co-hosted
by eight time NCAA Champion Stanford University of
the Pac 12 Conference and UC Davis of the Big West
Conference.
There is a college/am
tournament fund raiser the day before the
tournament proper begins which is a great way to
see first hand how these players (many of whom will
go on to PGA Tour careers) go about their business.
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