May 18, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's golf team came through with a repeat performance, winning a share of the NCAA Central Regional title for the second year in a row. The Boilermakers shot a 296 at Little Rock's Pleasant Valley Golf Course today, moving into a first-place tie with Oklahoma State with a three-day score of 865.
Senior All-American Lee Williamson won the individual title with a 209, while junior Chris Mayson tied as runner-up with a 211.
Purdue head coach Devon Brouse was proud of his team's effort, as well as Williamson and Mayson's results.
"We're extremely excited about our finish," Brouse said. "Winning an NCAA event with such great competition really says a lot about the quality of this team.
"I'm really happy for Lee and Chris. They both had tremendous weekends and will take a lot of confidence into nationals."
Purdue and Oklahoma State will be two of the 10 teams from the central regional to advance to the NCAA Championships hosted by Ohio State from May 29 to June 1. Joining them, in order of finish, will be Tulsa, Illinois, N.C. State, Toledo, Baylor, Texas Christian, Virginia Tech and Colorado.
No other team could quite compete with the Boilermakers and Cowboys, who blew away the rest of the 27-team field. The Golden Hurricanes, who placed third, finished 11 strokes back.
Purdue entered the final day of competition in second place, one stroke behind Oklahoma State. The Boilermakers managed to make up that ground behind the play of Williamson and Mayson, along with junior Peter Karmis.
Williamson shot a 72 on the final 18 holes to maintain his lead. He was in first place after the second round, but was tied for fifth after the first. His birdie on 18 sealed the first-place tie for the Boilermakers.
"I had no idea we needed that birdie," Williamson said. "If I would have known, maybe I would have done the same thing, but maybe it's best that I didn't know."
Mayson carded a 73 and finished in a second-place tie with Bret Guetz of Texas Christian. Mayson was in second after two rounds, moving up from a 33rd-place tie after the first 18 holes.
Mayson's previous career-high finish was eighth at this year's Big Ten Championships.
"I'm really happy because I was able to help my team," Mayson said. "I developed a lot of confidence at Big Ten's and carried it through."
Karmis shot a 74 and finished with a 220, tying for 26th. Sophomore Shiv Kapur shot a 77 for a total of 231, finishing in a tie for 92nd. Freshman Dustin Cone turned in an 87 for a three-hole score of 235, placing in a tie for 114th.
Purdue will now have a week to prepare for a trip to Columbus, where it will meet the 10 schools from both the East and West regionals, as well as the nine others from the Central Regional. The Boilermakers will be looking to improve upon their 28th-place finish from last year. "We're playing well and have another year of experience under our belts, so we're really looking forward to this tournament," Brouse said. "Because of how we fared last year, I think we'll go into this with something to prove."
PURDUE - NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL RESULTSPlace Golfer Score1st Lee Williamson 70-67-72=209 (-7)T2nd Chris Mayson 73-65-73=211 (-5)T26th Peter Karmis 73-73-74=220 (+4)T92nd Shiv Kapur 74-80-77=231 (+15)T114th Dustin Cone 74-74-87=235 (+19)T1st TEAM 290-279-296=865 (+1)
- P -