The Gophers men’s golf team continued their excellent play today at the NCAA Division I Championship in Virginia, moving to within a shot of tournament leader Stanford. Their 65-71-72-68-276 (-4) total was the second best team score of the day.

Gopher standout Bronson LaCassie is leading the individual scoreboard by two strokes at -8 after shooting 67-65-132.

Stanford and the Gophers are starting to pull away from the rest of the field, with third-place Coastal Carolina four strokes back.

Here are today’s individual scores:

• 1, Bronson LaCassie, 67-65-132 (-8)
• T23, Ben Pisani, 68-72-140 (E)
• T29, Victor Almstrom, 73-68-141 (+1)
• T44, Niall Turner, 71-71-142 (+2)
• T91, Clayton Rask, 72-73-145 (+5)

Director of Golf Steve Whillock reports that Oak Marsh Golf Club in Oakdale is adding another banquet room to their clubhouse. Demand for wedding receptions and meetings was pushing out the golfers, so construction is in progress to add more space.

For more information, call 651-730-8886.

The Minnesota Gophers men’s golf team teed off this morning at the 2007 Division I Men’s Golf Championship at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. Opened in 1963, the Robert Trent Jones Sr. Gold Course is playing as a 6,803 yard par 70 today (tour the course).

GopherSports.com also reports that seniors Bronson La’Cassie and Niall Turner have been named to the PING All-Midwest Region team, as selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

The Gophers are playing well early and are more than half-way through their round. We’ll update this post later today after the round is complete.

UPDATE: The Gophers finished today with a 278 (-2) total, tied for third with Florida and Texas. Stanford is in the lead with a 275 (-5) total and Coastal Carolina is in second at 277 (-3). Here are the individual results:

• T3, Bronson LaCassie, 67 (-3)
• T6, Ben Pisani, 68 (-2)
• T51, Niall Turner, 71 (+1)
• T66, Clayton Rask, 72 (+2)
• T89, Victor Almstrom, 73 (+3)

Only two days left on the spring version of the The Wilds Golf Club Pay The Temp promotion. Green fees are based on the outside temperature a 1/2 hour prior to your tee time (with a maximum of $65 plus tax) and include cart.

The weather may not cooperate, but you can try to dodge the raindrops. For more information, call (952) 445-3500, Ext. 4

Over the holiday weekend, we caught two of the big blockbuster movies of 2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Shrek the Third.

We watched Pirates at the Muller Monster Screen at Lakeville 21 Theatre. At 80 feet wide and 35 feet tall with more than 30 Dolby Digital speakers, it’s the largest indoor screen in Minnesota. Bring your cash if you go, though, no checks or credit cards accepted (when was the last time you saw that?).

I really wanted to like Pirates–there was a lot more Keira (yeah!) and more references to the original ride–but unfortunately, I think it’s the worst of the trilogy. It starts out slow, runs too long, has lots of bizarre scenes that don’t fit in with the Pirates style and has a poor ending (but be sure to stay for all the credits). The action scenes aren’t of the same caliber as the other two movies, which was disappointing considering the potential of the storyline. Maybe I need to watch it again after watching the first two in sequence…

As for Shrek the Third, my expectations were low, as most of the reviews hadn’t been very good. I wasn’t a big fan of the second Shrek (LOVED the first one), so I was very happy to find a franchise back on track. Eddie Murphy as Donkey was the highlight for me, but the story was also better than Shrek 2 and the characters were engaging. No need to stay to the end of the credits on this one, though.

Movies I’m waiting for now: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13), The Simpsons Movie (July 27) and The Bourne Ultimatum (August 3).

Lost among the excitement of the Gophers heading to the Division I Championship this week was Saint John’s University winning it’s first ever NCAA Division III golf title on May 18th.

The team’s 300-300-301-303-1204 (+52) total was twelve shots better than second place University of La Verne (California).

The championship was played on two courses: the 7,047 yard, par 72 Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana and the 7,069 yard, par 72 Hawthorns Golf and Country Club in Fishers, Indiana.

Here are the individual player results:

• 1 – Clinton Dammann, 72-71-72-72-287 (-1)
• T7 – Andrew Longbella, 74-73-79-76-302 (+14)
• T26 – Matt Bohlig, 76-79-78-77-310 (+22)
• T26 – Joe Daly, 78-77-73-82-310 (+22)
• T52 – Joe Schoolmeesters, 80-79-78-78-315 (+27)

More information can be found in the school’s press release.