Tom Whitney Named MWC Men's Golfer of the Month
4/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 2, 2009
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force junior Tom Whitney has been selected as the Mountain West Conference Men's Golfer of the Month, as announced today by the league office. Whitney earned the award after capturing medalist honors in two of three tournaments in the month of March.
Whitney, a native of La Quinta, Calif., opened the month with an individual title at the Argonaut Invitational March 2-3 in Pensacola, Fla. The junior shot a then-season-best score of nine-under 207 (69-66-72) on the par 72, 6,815-yard course. His second-round score of 66 was a tournament low, and he was the only golfer in the field of 71 participants to record two rounds below 70.
Whitney collected his second straight individual title with a school-record performance at the Desert Shootout in Goodyear, Ariz., March 19-21. Over the 54-hole tournament, he carded a 16-under 200 (64-69-67) on the par 72, 7,015-yard Palm Valley Course. Whitney set school records for individual round (64), score after 36-holes (133) and 54-hole total (200). His first-round score of 64 was one stroke lower than the previous school record initially set by Chris Young in 1971 and matched by Whitney in 2007. The previous 36-hole record of 135 was set by Tyler Goulding in 2005, while Whitney broke his own 54-hole record of 202, also set in 2007.
Whitney's performance at the Desert Shootout also contributed to a strong performance by the Falcons at the event as the team turned in a three-round score of 855 to finish tied for seventh. The 855 total ranks as the third-lowest team tournament score in school history.
Meanwhile, Whitney closed out the month at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin, Texas on March 30-31. He tied for 47th out of 93 participants after posting a team-best 19-over 242 (75-78-79). It was the 10th time in as many tournaments this season that Whitney has been Air Force's top performer, and the 13th consecutive time dating back to the spring of 2008.
With his two tournament wins in March, Whitney now has three individual victories in his career (also winning the Service Academy Golf Classic in 2006). Whitney is just the fifth golfer in Air Force history to win more than one tournament in his career and the third to win at least three individual titles.
Whitney has posted a 71.50 stoke average on the season, ranking third in the Mountain West Conference. It marks the first MWC golfer of the month award for Whitney, and the first for an Air Force golfer since November 2004 when Goulding captured the honor.
