Feb. 2, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz. - Senior Andrea Pavan closed with a four-under-par 67 on Tuesday to lead No. 6-ranked Texas A&M to a fifth-place finish at the Arizona Invitational at Arizona National Golf Club.
California (29 under) edged host Arizona (28 under) by one stroke to capture the title. Fresno State placed third at 14 under, followed by No. 3 Florida (13 under), A&M (11 under), Pepperdine (5 under), UNLV (4 under), Nevada (3 over), New Mexico (6 over), No. 24 San Diego State (8 over), Arizona B (12 over), UTEP (47 over), Texas-San Antonio (49 over) and Northern Colorado (65 over).
Arizona's Rick Saferian won individual honors by three strokes with a 13-under total of 68-66-66=200.
A&M sophomore Jordan Russell, competing as an individual, finished fourth (66-70-69=205) for the best finish of his career. Freshman Cameron Peck tied for seventh (71-67-69=207), Pavan tied for 11th (73-69-67=209), junior Nacho Elvira tied for 24th (69-70-73=212), sophomore Geoff Shaw tied for 29th (70-71-72=213) and junior John Hurley tied for 4=53rd (75-71-76=222).
"I thought we played pretty well but we didn't finish as strong as we would have liked," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "We were not as sharp mentally as we needed to be but overall it was a good effort. Jordan had a great showing as an individual and is closing to breaking into the lineup. Cameron had another great tournament and Andrea was outstanding today. Everyone did well and it was not a bad way to start the spring season."
Pavan opened with consecutive bogeys but played his next 15 holes in seven-under before bogeying the final hole.