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David Inglis added a wee bit to Scottish golf lore yesterday, wrapping up his second straight men's individual title in the Western Athletic Conference Championship at the Turtle Bay Resort. Inglis blisters Turtle Bay
for WAC titleBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comInglis also had a hand in engineering Tulsa to the team championship. The red-headed Scot finished the three-day event with a WAC record 18-under-par 198 after shooting a final-round 69 on the par-72 George Fazio course. Inglis' two closest competitors were way back -- Southern Methodist's Ryan Abbate at 208 and Texas-El Paso's Drew Hawley at 211.
"The record is really icing on the cake," Inglis said. "The main thing was I was happy with the way I played, and the scores just came with it."
In his three days at Turtle Bay, Inglis had just one bogey to go along with an eagle and 17 birdies. Yesterday, he made 10-foot birdie putts on the second and fourth holes, and he tapped in for birdies on the fifth and 17th. The lone bogey came at the 168-yard par-3 16th hole yesterday.
"It's a short hole, but it's downwind and it's hard to make it stop," the 20-year-old Inglis said. "I hit it to the middle of the green and then putted to less than three feet. The second putt was just bad. I pulled it."
A second-team All-American a year ago as a freshman, Inglis shot a blistering 63 on Wednesday and followed with a 66 on Thursday.
"Last year when I won the WAC, I got off to a bad start and had to catch up," he said. "This year, I was 6-under after nine holes and I kept my momentum and my putter working."
Neil Trimm (215), Billy Lowry (219), Kevin Henry (220) and Chris Noel (224) also helped the Golden Hurricane rise to the championship after losing to SMU by one stroke in last year's tournament.
"It's nice to win the conference championship," said Tulsa coach Bill Brogden, who recruited Inglis at a tournament in Sweden. "That's what you play for, and it's especially nice after losing by a shot last year. David got zoned in this week and was playing under control from the first swing on."
UTEP was five strokes back in second place, followed by Fresno State, SMU and Nevada.
Junior Jaime Matsumura, a Kauai native, was Hawaii's top finisher, tied for 17th with a 219 after a final-round 71. Teammate Norman-Ganin Asao, playing in his final match at UH to finish a four-year career, was a stroke back. Matthew Kodama (222), Kellen-Floyd Asao (227) and Kramer Aoki (234) also aided the Warriors to an eighth-place finish in the 10-team field.
"We struggled this week and that was indicative of how our season went," Hawaii coach Ronn Miyashiro said. "We were unable to have consistent scores from top to bottom, but it gives us an idea of what to focus on for next year and what we have to do to be competitive."
Kodama, a sophomore who also shot a final-round 71, said the Warriors were confident coming into the tournament. "We definitely could have done better, but as a team, we wasted a lot of shots putting and chipping," he said.
Kodama said home-course advantage didn't help because "it's a course we don't play."
Nick Watney of Fresno State, who finished tied for fourth at 212, was named WAC Player of the Year, and Nevada's Tom Duncan was picked as Coach of the Year. Fresno State's Jonathan Echols, UTEP's Chris Baryla, SMU's Franklin Hatchett and Tulsa's Inglis join Watney on the All-WAC team.