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Date Posted: 10:46:35 04/22/02 Mon
Author: Jon Ralston
Subject: Tiger Golf

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Originally Published Monday, April 22, 2002
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Pacific shoots for upper half

By Bob Highfill

Record Staff Writer

Jason Higton stands off the side of the 18th green at Stockton Golf and Country Club bouncing a golf ball off the face of a wedge.

Four teammates are finishing their practice round for the day.

After a short talk with Jason Preeo, University of the Pacific's first-year coach, Higton, a senior standout, strides up a small hill behind the green.

''I feel good,'' Higton said with a smile. ''I'd love to finish the last two, three, and hopefully four tournaments strong.''

One of them, the Big West Championship, will take place today and Tuesday at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills, site of the PGA Senior Gold Rush before it folded in January. The Tigers, seeded second behind UC Irvine, will play two rounds today and one Tuesday.

''If nothing else, we want to build some confidence,'' said Preeo, who's confident his team will advance to the NCAA Regionals with a strong performance. ''We're going in the wrong direction right now.''

The Tigers have finished in the bottom half of the field in their last three tournaments. Pacific placed 12th out of 16 teams at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational on March 25-26, ninth out of 17 at the Western Intercollegiate on April 8-9 at venerable Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz, and 10th out of 17 at the U.S. Intercollegiate over the weekend at Stanford.

Pacific was hot in the fall and winter, finishing in the top five in four of six events.

Last season, the Tigers took second in the Big West Championship and were invited to the NCAA Regional. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament and shocked many by placing 11th, the best finish in school history.

''We were really looking forward to this year,'' Higton said. ''We've been a little bit up and down. We want to do as well as we did last year.''

Higton, the Big West leader in scoring average at 72.0, hopes to rekindle the success he had in September, when he was seventh at the Topy Cup in Japan and sixth at the Ping-Golfweek Invitational in Ohio. In late February, he was seventh at the John Burns Invitational in Honolulu, and two weeks later won the Pacific Coast Invitational at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc.

Since then, Higton tied for 17th at Stevinson Ranch, tied for 44th at the Western Intercollegiate and tied for 17th again at the U.S. Intercollegiate.

''More than anything, I'm trying to prepare mentally,'' Higton said. ''I'm trying to bring my A game, but who knows what game I'm going to bring?''

Higton said he hit the ball well at Stevinson Ranch and Pasatiempo, though his scores suggest otherwise. He said the key is to make good scores happen.

''I'm feeling good about my putting,'' said Higton, who has four top-10 finishes this season. ''I'm rolling it well, and the speed's good. I've felt good about my putting the entire semester, so far.''

Higton won't have to do it by himself. Juniors Matt Hansen (fourth) and Troy McKinley (seventh) are among the top-ranked players in scoring average in the Big West, and junior Ben Scribner and senior Tom O'Stasik are among the top 30.

''We should win the conference tournament, if we do what we should do,'' Preeo said. ''That should give us more confidence.''

* To reach reporter Bob Highfill,
phone 546-8299 or e-mail
bhighfil@recordnet.com

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