Washington State's Lee wins home golf tournament

Washington State golfer Sang Lee picked the right time to win his first event. With this dad in attendance, the WSU senior held off a field that included ten teams to win the individual title of Itani Quality Homes Collegiate on Tuesday at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman.

"I feel very satisfied. It is my fifth year now as a Coug and to finally get that win feels great," Lee said. "My dad came to watch me this week - and this is the first event he's watched - and to win it is surreal. I'm really happy that happened."

His victory was enough to propel the Cougars to first place in the team standings. After starting the day in third place, WSU fell back to fourth place, behind Oregon, USC and California.

"Overall great effort by the guys. Sang Lee was incredible all three days and Derek Bayley, for a freshman in such difficult conditions, he was absolutely phenomenal. We would have liked a more complete effort today," WSU coach Garrett Clegg said. "Our final round we did not finish the way we needed to finish as a group and as seniors. Aside from Seng, our other three seniors that were in the lineup didn't do their part."

The team title belonged to Oregon, who defeated USC in a playoff. The playoff victory was unofficial, as the two squads technically split the first place finish, but it was the Ducks who came away with the victory.

"We wanted to do that last week. We tied with UCLA and we didn't get a chance to play it off and I think our guys kind of felt it was unfinished a little bit," Oregon coach Casey Martin said. "They understood flights and all that. (USC coach) Chris Zambri wanted a playoff; it's a good experience."

Idaho's Ryan Porch and Jared du Toit tied for 15th. Both had 74s during Tuesday's final day to go with 136s during Monday's first two rounds. As a team, the Vandals finished fifth with an 850 - eight strokes out of fourth.

As for Lee, his victory was well earned. He had to hold off Cameron Shaw of Cal, who earned a share of first place with Lee. Shaw had the first double eagle of his life on the 10th hole, and moved into a share of the lead.

"It was a good drive down the middle. My second shot was completely blind," Shaw said of his double eagle. "I got a good line on it. I thought it was pretty good but I was not expecting anything like that to happen to be honest."

But Lee, who had played this course countless times over his career, played smart and avoided the dangerous areas en route to the big win. Lee will look to continue his momentum when WSU competes in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational on Oct. 13 in Fairfax, Calif.

Tom Hager can be reached at (208) 883-4633 or by email to thager@dnews.com