May 20, 2000

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

University of Wyoming junior David Hearn knew he would have to shoot a great score on Saturday at the NCAA West Regional if he was to have any chance of advancing to the NCAA Championship. But a low round was not in the cards for Hearn on Saturday, and he shot a final round 76 to finish in a tie for 90th in the field of 141 golfers.

Hearn teed off on Saturday 11 strokes back of the leaders -- Derek Gillespie of Arizona, Parker McLachlin of UCLA and Alex Kuyumjian of USC, who were tied at 137. Although he got off to a fast start, the necessity of having to shoot a round in the 60s to move on to the NCAA Championship forced Hearn to take some chances that he wouldn't normally take and led to mistakes that eliminated him from contention.

"David got off to a great start on Saturday, shooting a couple under after the first few holes," said UW men's golf coach Roger Prenzlow. "But he began to press a little bit, trying to play a great round. He made a couple mistakes trying so hard, and that took him out of it.

"While is was disappointing to David, he'll learn from this. David is the kind of player who will remember this, and will use it to motivate himself to have a better senior year than he did his junior and sophomore seasons."

Hearn finished with a 54-hole total of 224, eight-over par. The individual champion was Michael Beard of Pepperdine, who shot a final round 65 to post a 12-under par round total of 204.

Brigham Young University of the Mountain West Conference led through each of the first two rounds, but couldn't hold off Arizona which took the team title by four strokes over BYU and UNLV -- 839 to 843.

The 10 teams from the West Regional that will advance on to the NCAA Championships are, in the order they finished: Arizona, UNLV, BYU, USC, New Mexico, Fresno State, Arizona State, Washington, Pepperdine and California. Cal defeated Idaho and Stanford on the third hole of a playoff to earn the final team spot in the NCAAs out of the West Regional. The two individuals who will advance on to the NCAAs are: Ryan Nelson of Portland, who finished fourth at 209, and Brandon DiTullio of UCLA, who tied for fifth at 210.

The 2000 season marked the second consecutive year that Wyoming's Hearn earned his way to the NCAA West Regional. At the '99 West Regional in Tucson, Ariz., Hearn placed 17th and missed advancing to the NCAA Championship by one place. Hearn is coming off an eighth-place showing at the 2000 Mountain West Conference Championships in Palm Desert, Calif., May 1-3.

The West Regional included three 18-hole rounds. The tournament was played Thursday-Saturday, May 18-20 on the Riverbend Golf Club in Fresno, Calif. The course played to a par of 72 and measured 6,966 yards.

In men's collegiate golf, the NCAA Division I Championship begins with three regional competitions. In addition to the West Regional, there is also a Central and East Regional. All three regionals were contested May 18-20. The Central Regional was played at Victoria Country Club in Victoria, Texas, hosted by Southwest Texas State. The East Regional was played at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, Pa., hosted by Temple University.

The NCAA Division I Championship will be hosted by Auburn University on May 31 - June 3 at the Grand National Golf Course in Auburn, Ala.

A total of 421 individuals competed at the Regional competitions with 156 advancing to the NCAA Championship.