April 20, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - After coming close several times last year, junior Mark Warman (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente HS) claimed the first individual title of his collegiate career by coming from two strokes back after the second round to earn medalist honors at the U.S. Intercollegiate. Warman (206, -7), who finished second on three different occasions in his all-MWC 2001-02 sophomore season, followed up his school- and course-record 62 in the second round with a final-round 73 to take a one-shot win.
Warman's performance, the third individual title of the season for an Aztec, sparked San Diego State to a third-place team finish in its final tune-up before the Mountain West Conference tournament. The Aztecs (851, -1) finished just a stroke out of second place and behind the two highest-ranked teams in the field - UCLA (No. 11 Golfweek/No. 5 Golfstat), which claimed the team title at 12-under 840, and No. 8/6 Oklahoma State, which SDSU led by two shots in second place after the second round.
SDSU (No. 34 Golfweek/No. 37 Golfstat) was still able to claim head-to-head wins over three higher-ranked teams from the Golfstat ratings - No. 28 UC Irvine (6th, 859), No. 31 California (11th, 873) and No. 36 Fresno State (4th, 853).
Warman's title is all the more impressive when considering the 90-golfer individual field he was up against. Warman (No. 182 Golfweek) defeated 31 of the nation's top 250-rated golfers according to Golfweek, 11 of them rated among the top 100 including No. 2 Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State (4th, 208, -5) and No. 5 Nick Watney of Fresno State (15th, 213, E).
Joining Warman in the top 10 was sophomore Aaron Choi (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines HS), who registered his career best and the low Aztec score of the day with a 5-under 66. Choi finished in a tie for ninth place at 2-under 211, his best career result as a starter.
A final-round 74 dropped senior Brian Miller (Madras, Ore./Saddleback JC) into a 28th-place tie at 4-over 217, which he shared with five other golfers including senior Lars Johansson (Karlskrona, Sweden/Champansholam HS). Senior John Lieber (San Diego, Calif./Grossmont HS) took 85th place at 236.
SDSU begins play at the 2003 MWC Championship on May 1 in Oregon at the Sunriver Resort's Crosswater Course.
Final ResultsU.S. IntercollegiateStanford G.C. Stanford, CADates: 04/19 - 04/20 (Today:04-20-2003)Par: 71Yardage: 6786
Fin. School Scores 1 UCLA 279 277 284 840 -12 2 Oklahoma State U. 293 274 283 850 -2 3 San Diego State U. 292 273 286 851 -1 4 Fresno State Univ. 289 278 286 853 +1 5 Oregon, U. of 274 294 288 856 +4 6 UC-Irvine 284 283 292 859 +7 7 Stanford University 289 287 288 864 +12 8 Washington State U. 294 283 292 869 +17 9 Long Beach State 285 295 290 870 +18 10 Pacific, U. of the 287 283 302 872 +20 11 California, U. of 300 285 288 873 +21 12 San Jose State Univ. 291 297 287 875 +23 13 San Francisco, U. of 293 291 293 877 +25 14 Texas A&M University 296 297 298 891 +39 15 San Diego, U. of 294 306 294 894 +42 16 Santa Clara Univ. 304 291 307 902 +50
Top 10 Individuals Fin. Name School Scores 1 Mark Warman SanDiegoSt 71 62 73 206 -7
2 John Ellis Oregon 67 72 68 207 -6 Jeff Coburn UC-Irvine 66 67 74 207 -6
4 Hunter Mahan Okla. St. 70 65 73 208 -5 John Merrick UCLA 69 69 70 208 -5
6 Ryan Carter Fresno St. 71 68 70 209 -4 Roy Moon UCLA 65 66 78 209 -4
8 Ryan Ressa Wash. St. 72 66 72 210 -3
9 Michael Wilson California 72 69 70 211 -2 Chad Spencer Fresno St. 70 64 77 211 -2 Aaron Choi SanDiegoSt 74 71 66 211 -2
SDSU Individuals 1 Mark Warman SanDiegoSt 71 62 73 206 -7 9 Aaron Choi SanDiegoSt 74 71 66 211 -2 T 28 Lars Johansson SanDiegoSt 74 70 73 217 +4 T 28 Brian Miller SanDiegoSt 73 70 74 217 +4 85 John Lieber SanDiegoSt 74 83 79 236 +23