TCU
Mountain West Conference Championships
Frogs Capture First-Ever Mountain West Conference Championship
5/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 2, 2009
The TCU men's golf team recorded its first-ever Mountain West Conference Championship as the Horned Frogs defeated San Diego State in a team playoff on Saturday afternoon at the Tucson National Golf Resort in Tucson, Ariz.
The Horned Frogs - who entered the final round with a five-stroke advantage - posted a four-over-par score of 288 on the final 18 holes of action while San Diego State was the only team to break par on the day after notching a three-under-par score of 281. The Frogs and Aztecs both finished with a 54-hole score of 844, which set a Mountain West Conference Championship record for lowest team score.
"I was really proud of the way that the guys never gave up and battled to the end," said head men's golf coach Bill Montigel. "We were really behind in the standings and at the 14th-hole we were about five shots back and I started thinking that maybe this was too far to come back. However, the guys really stormed back with a lot of birdies down the stretch and were able to capture the title in the playoff. These guys showed a lot of heart out there today."
With the two programs tied after 54 holes of action, the Frogs and Aztecs embarked on a one-hole playoff where all five golfers would count for the top-four scores. The first three golfers for TCU came in the form of Travis Woolf (Fort Worth, Texas | Paschal H.S.), Alexander Knappe (Brilon, Germany | Berufs H.S.) and Tom Hoge (Fargo, N.D. | Fargo South H.S.), who all proceeded to birdie the 18th hole.
It only seemed fitting that the golfer to seal the victory for the Frogs was the only golfer on the squad who was part of TCU's last conference championship in 2005 - James Sacheck (The Woodlands, Texas | Zionsville H.S.). With a par for Sacheck, the Frogs recorded their first conference championship as a member of the Mountain West Conference as TCU recorded a three-under-par score compared to the two-under-par count for San Diego State.
Hoge along with freshman Johan de Beer (Pretoria, South Africa | Pretoria Boys' H.S.) led the Frogs at the Mountain West Conference Championships as both finished with a four-under-par score of 209 (67-70-72 | 69-66-74).
Sacheck recorded a two-over-par score of 215 (71-70-74) en route to finishing 15th overall while Woolf and Knappe both finished 20th overall with a score of 216 (72-74-70 | 69-75-72). Woolf also recorded the best round of the day for the Frogs with a one-under-par score of 70.
Following the Frogs and Aztecs in the Mountain West Conference standings were UNLV (845), New Mexico (848), Colorado State (854), BYU (856), Wyoming (873), Air Force (875) and Utah (879).
In addition to the conference championship, Montigel was selected as the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year for the first-time in his career. This was the seventh conference of the year accolade for the TCU head men's golf coach as he earned four consecutive in Conference USA, one in the Western Athletic Conference and one in the Southwest Conference.
Sacheck and de Beer were each selected as first team All-Mountain West Conference performers, which was the first time that the Frogs have had two golfers represented on the MWC all-star team. This the first all-conference award for both Sacheck and de Beer.
The Frogs will make their 20th consecutive appearance at the NCAA Central Regional Championships, which will be announced on May 4th.
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