Josh McCollum of Chico State sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Andrew Harrison of British Columbia by one stroke for the individual title and help the Wildcats finished second in the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham Golf and Country Club (http://www.bellinghamgcc.com) in Bellingham, Wash.
McCollum, a senior from Upland who landed at Chico State last year after previously playing at Orange Coast College and Creighton, claimed the first title of his college career.
“It feels great to see that hard work pay off,” said McCollum, who won the 2015 Inland Empire Amateur. “I’ve been working on my ball-striking, trying to hit the ball more consistently. I kept it pretty simple.”
McCollum, who led the field with 16 birdies over the 54 holes, carded a score of 68-68-71—207, 9-under-par, while Harrison finished second at 67-71-71—209, followed by Michael Jura of Stanislaus State at 71-66-74—211 and Cody Roth of Western Washington at 73-70-69—212.
Joey Herrera of Cal State Eastbay shot 72-73-69—214 to tie for fifth with Jordan Lee of Western Washington, who finished at 69-72-73—214, while Jaxson Daskalos of Concordia (Ore.) totaled 74-71-71—216 to tie for seventh with Triston Gardner of Dixie State, who wound up at 75-70-71—216.
Declan Illingsworth of Cal State Eastbay posted a score of 74-74-69—217 to tie for ninth with Jared Kinoshita of Hawaii-Hilo (71-73-73—217), Sy Lovan of Simon Fraser University (76-68-73—217), and Nick Sparling of Western Washington (72-74-71—217).
Hayden Hui of UC San Diego shot 74-75-69—218 to finish in a tie for 13th that included Kelley Sullivan of Chico State, who finished at 72-75-71—218, while Gabriel Manotoc of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco totaled 74-73-72—219 to wind up in a tie for 16th with Cody Hall of Cal State San Bernardino, who came in at 73-75-71—219.
Jordan McBrayer of Cal State San Marcos tied for 21st at 67-74-80—221, while Jed Enomoto of Holy Names University in Oakland carded a score of 75-75-72—222 to tie for 30th with teammate Aniceto Mandanas, who wound up at 72-75-75—222, and Caleb Keohokapu of Notre Dame De Namur in Belmont tied for 67th at 75-77-76—222.
Host Western Washington took the team title with a score of 289-287-285—861, 3-under, followed by Chico State at 284-289-290—863, while Cal State Eastbay totaled 291-302-277—870 to tie for third with British Columbia, which wound up at 290-288-292—870.
Simon Fraser was fifth at 296-288-293—877, followed by Stanislaus State at 296-288-299—883, and Saint Martin’s at 283-304-299—886.
Academy of Art carded a score of 294-298-297—889 to tie for eighth with Cal State San Marcos, which totaled 294-298-297—889, and Colorado Christian, which came in at 302-293-294—889.
Holy Names was 14th at 297-304-295—896, while UC San Diego shot 306-305-290—901 to tie for 15th with Cal State San Bernardino, which finished at 302-301-298—901, and Notre Dame de Namur was 20th at 318-322-305—945.
For complete results, View Leaderboard and Results
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