Heading into Wednesday's final round, the ASU men's golf team possessed a commanding nine-shot lead and looked poised to bring home its 12th Pac-10 Championship in league history. The UA Wildcats, however, had other plans.
The Wildcats took advantage of the Sun Devils' poor playing to pull out a five-shot victory and take home the Pac-10 Championship crown.
UA fired a final round 365 (+5) to finish with a four-round total of 1450 (+10) to win on the 7,435-yard, par 72 Gallery at Dove Mountain Golf Course.
The Wildcats not only served as spoiler to the Sun Devils' hopes of becoming conference champ, but they also took away ASU senior Chez Reavie's hopes of winning his first tournament.
UA's Henry Liaw shot a final round 68 (-4) to leap over both Reavie and sophomore Alejandro Canizares to claim medalist honors for the tournament. Liaw was one of only two players to shoot under par in Wednesday's final round.
Reavie, who was tied for first going into the final round, shot a 74 (+2) to finish with a four-day total of 283 (-5), four shots back of Liaw, and he ended in a tie for second place. Reavie will now have to wait until regionals to make another attempt at winning his first tournament.
Canizares also shot a final round 74 (+2) to finish in a tie for second. Wednesday's 74 was the highest tournament round for Canizares, the defending NCAA champion.
Freshman Niklas Lemke and junior Jesse Mueller also turned in solid final rounds as they finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
Lemke continued his solid play at the conference championships by shooting an even par 72 in his final round, matching his best score of the tournament.
Mueller shot a 75 (+3) to finish with a four-round total of 296 (+8).
While four of ASU's five individual scores were ranked in the top 10, it was the fifth individual score that cost the Sun Devils the title.
After being tied for 17th after three rounds, senior Mike Derminio turned in a disappointing final round 86 (+14) to fall all the way to 39th. That left it up to junior Kendall Critchfield to turn in another low team score.
Unfortunately, Critchfield also had a tough round, shooting an 84 (+12). Critchfield finished with a four-day total 314 (+26), in a tie for 49th.
Behind UA and ASU, the race for third place was a heated one, with the UCLA Bruins (+30) outlasting the Washington Huskies (+36). USC rounded out the top five, shooting a team total (+39) for the tournament.
The Sun Devils will now have to wait until May 20 for the NCAA Regionals in Sun River, Ore., to tee it up again.
Reach the reporter at Matt.Reinick@asu.edu.
