Air Force Academy

April 25, 2006

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - The Air Force golf team brings the 2006 spring season to a close this weekend as it takes part in the seventh-annual Mountain West Conference Championship, held April 27-29 at the par-72, 7,630-yard Crosswater Course in Sunriver, Ore. The tournament will feature three rounds of 18 holes each, to be played beginning at 9:00 (PT) each morning.

The Field...
The field for the 2006 MWC Championship features all nine conference teams, including newcomer TCU. Other teams are Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, three-time defending champion New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming.

The Pairings...
In the first round pairings, Group 1 will consist of New Mexico, Wyoming and UNLV, Group 2 will be comprised of Colorado State, Air Force and BYU, and Group 3 will feature Utah, TCU and San Diego State. In rounds two and three, team groups will be paired by result.

In the individual pairings in round one, Matt Tanis will be in group 6 with CSU's Aaron Weston and BYU's Nick Becker, with a tee time of 9:50 a.m. Group 7, featuring Bob Whitney along with CSU's Nate Pettitt and BYU's Clay Ogden, will start at 10:00 a.m., followed by group 8--Chad Follett, CSU's Zen Brown and BYU's Daniel Summerhays--at 10:10 a.m. Tyler Labrum will play in group 9 along with CSU's Kevin McAlpine and BYU's Jake Ellison with a 10:20 a.m. start time, while Tyler Goulding rounds out the group of Falcons, playing in group 10 with CSU's Derrick Whiting and BYU's Oscar Alvarez beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Last Year at the MWC Championships...
Despite turning in its best round on the final day of competition with a 5-over-par 293, the Falcons finished eighth for the sixth-straight season, just three strokes behind seventh-place Utah. New Mexico won its third-straight league title, followed by UNLV, BYU, San Diego State, Colorado State and Wyoming.

Leading the way for the Falcons was sophomore Tyler Goulding, who finished in a tie for seventh place, the best individual finish for an Air Force golfer since Adam Wasinger in 2002. As a result, Goulding was named an all-conference selection, only the second Falcon ever to receive All-MWC recognition, and the first since Ben Leestma in 2002.

Also competing for Air Force at the 2005 MWC Championship were Chad Follett (T31st), Kala'e Leong (T31st), Scott Redmond (T34th) and Daryl McCoy (39th).

In the Ratings...
Air Force is rated 201st in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin team performance ratings, while junior Tyler Goulding leads the Falcons in the individual ratings at 403. The Sagarin rankings are based on power rating, schedule strength, schedule rank and records.

Other MWC teams in the rankings are UNLV (8), BYU (9), San Diego State (21), New Mexico (34), TCU (37), Colorado State (74), Wyoming (117) and Utah (155).

Falcons In The Record Books...
Air Force made its mark in the school's record books with its performance at the PING Golf Cougar Classic, hosted by BYU. Its 54-hole total of 869 ranks as the fifth-lowest tournament score in school history.

Additionally, Tyler Goulding's scores of 210 at the Cougar Classic is his personal best and ties for fifh on the list of lowest individual tournament scores. Goulding now holds five of the top 16 individual scores and eight of the top 26 scores, more than any other golfer in Academy history.

Also making his way into the record books is sophomore Bob Whitney, whose score of 214 at the 2006 Wyoming Cowboy Classic, ranks tied for 17th on Air Force's list of lowest individual tournament scores.