June 11, 2009

Division I Ping All-America Teams

(San Diego, CA) - USD freshman golfer Alex Ching (Honolulu, HI) has earned national honors by being named to the Division I Ping All-America honorable mention team by the Golf Coaches Association of Amercia (GCAA). There were ten players named to each of the first, second and third teams, and Ching was one of thirty-three players from across the nation to be named honorable mention. In USD's first-ever team appearance at the 2009 NCAA Championships (Inverness Club, Toledo, OH), Ching was tied for first after two rounds and went on to place 13th overall with his 214 total (70-68-76). USD finished a solid 13th out of 30 competing teams and would finish just eight strokes back from advancing into the eight-team match-play format.

"I'm very proud of Alex and the season he had," said head coach Tim Mickelson. `It's nice to see that he was rewarded with All-America status for his play this year. While college golf is a team effort, Alex was instrumental in our success this year in that 37 of his 38 rounds were counted towards the team score. That is outstanding for any player, and quite remarkable for a freshman to have that type of impact. The sky's the limit for him."

Ching, the 2009 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, finished with a team-best scoring average of 71.72. He becomes the Torero golf proram's first-ever All-American. Prior to nationals he tied for 24th at the NCAA West Regionals with a 214 total (72-69-73), and tied for 15th at the WCC Championships with a 217 finish (74-72-71).