Huskies stay in control despite weather

It seems as though Washington's golf teams just can't escape Mother Nature these days. Last week, the women's golf team braved a tough rain shower in its second day of competition. This time around, in the NCAA championships at Ohio State's par-71, 7,236-yard Scarlet Course, the men's golf team got through 14 rounds yesterday before the tournament was suspended until 7 a.m. (EDT) today due to rain.

The rain came at a bad time for the Huskies, who are currently sitting in third place out of 30 teams at 5-under. Sitting in front of the Huskies are Georgia Tech in second with 8-under and Illinois in first at 9-under.

"All you want to do on day one is to put yourself in a good position," said Husky coach Matt Thurmond. "You can't win it in day one, but you can lose it. Our goal is to be in a good position after the first 36 holes. We're not finished with the round, but we are off to a good start in accomplishing that goal."

It was even worse timing for sophomore Brock Mackenzie, whose hot streak on the course was halted by weather, leaving him tied for first overall with Ben Portie of Colorado at 5-under.

"I played pretty good and I had some shots go in that normally don't," Mackenzie said. "That was the only difference. I was not hitting the ball as well as I usually do. Fortunately, my chipping was really good today and I made a couple of long putts."

Washington is the west regional co-champion with New Mexico and has won five tournaments so far this season. Arizona is the only other Pac-10 team that qualified for nationals.

Washington is grouped with Clemson and Purdue in the morning section. Today the Huskies will finish their first round, and they later will tee off straight into their second round.

"It makes for a long day," Mackenzie said. "Fortunately, it's only about 20 or 22 holes and we play a lot of tournaments with 36 holes in a day. It should not be a big difference. It is nice that we can play our round and then tee it up right away. That's a lot better than sitting around for five hours waiting to play again."

Sitting behind Mackenzie is junior John Robertson, who is in a 23-way tie for 21st with a 1-under after 14 holes. Sophomore Dan Potter is also in a large tie with 21 players by shooting par after 15 holes.

Sophomore Corey Prugh and junior Conner Robbins are jammed in a tie with 27 other players for 66th as they both sit 1-over after 16 and 15 holes, respectively.

This is the fourth-straight national championship for the Huskies, whose best finish was fourth place back in 1999. If the Huskies can hold things together over the next three days, they could easily break that record. That's also depending on whether Mother Nature allows them to play because today's forecast calls for rain and thundershowers.