Sept. 20, 2005

LAYTON, Utah - If today's final round at the Purple and Red Invitational is any indication, it should be a whirlwind type of season for Santa Clara men's golf. Less than two weeks after reporting to practice on September 7, and with a new head coach who was hired only three months ago, the Broncos came together and topped the 14-team field to capture the tournament title with a sizzling seven-under-par run on the final four holes.

"The bottom-line is that this shows that the guys have put in a ton of work to get to where they are at," said head coach Rob Miller. "They have a great future ahead of them and basically they are going to go out and try to win every tournament. Their mindset is to take it one tournament at a time, they don't want to get ahead of themselves."

The Broncos' win at Valley View GC is the golf program's first tournament title won outside of the Santa Clara area since 1999. Outside of victories in the SCU Invitational in 2003 and 2004 and in the Santa Clara Spring Shootout in spring 2004, the Broncos had never won a tournament taking place outside of the South Bay since capturing the Sacramento State Invitational at the Ranchero Murieta Country Club from March 8-9, 1999.

As a team, Santa Clara carded a final score of 855 (-9) to finish two strokes ahead of runners-up Boise State and co-host Weber State. One of the impressive things to come out of the Bronco win was that it came on a course which they had never played before yesterday's first round, while co-host Weber State practices at Valley View four times a week. Senior Eric Lillibridge paced the Broncos in Tuesday's final round, shooting a two under-par 70 which gave him a three-round total of 209 (-7), good for third-place in the individual competition. Lillibridge's final score was five strokes back of medalist Dustin Pimm of Utah.

Michael Nicoletti also came through in the final charge as he played the final three holes at two-under while sophomore Tim Lynch birdied the final two holes to contribute to the cause. Junior Jong Yoon also finished strong, playing the final two holes at one-under.

Final Results
1 Santa Clara Univ. 287 283 285 855 -9
2 Weber State Univ. 281 284 292 857 -7
Boise State Univ. 286 285 286 857 -7
4 Utah, Univ. of 297 284 288 869 +5
5 San Francisco, U. of 299 291 281 871 +7
6 Utah State Univ. 293 296 285 874 +10
7 UC - Riverside 296 289 293 878 +14
8 Idaho, Univ. of 298 298 288 884 +20
9 Gonzaga University 300 291 295 886 +22
10 Southern Utah Univ. 304 288 297 889 +25
11 Utah Valley State 299 293 307 899 +35
12 Loyola Marymount U. 302 309 294 905 +41
13 Idaho State Univ. 307 294 306 907 +43
14 Sacramento State 310 311 291 912 +48