Hunter Epson of Long Beach State sank an 18-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Peter Kuest of team champion Brigham Young for the individual title in the Nick Watney Invitational at Fort Washington Country Club www.fortwashingtoncc.org in Fresno.
Epson, a senior out of Wilson High in Long Beach who made three birdies and an eagle in his final round to help him get into the playoff and claim his first college victory, posted a score of 68-64-68—200, 13-under-par, while Kuest finished at 68-65-67—200.
Rhett Rasmussen of BYU was third at 73-66-62—201, followed by Nathan Cogswell of Seattle at 72-68-63—203, while Joey Vrzich of Pepperdine shot 71-68-65—204 to tie for fifth with Wave teammate Joshua McCarthy, who totaled 69-69-66—204, Bryce Wortman of San Jose State, who wound up at 68-70-66—204, and Harrison Kingsley of University of San Diego, who finished at 69-68-67—204.
Owen Avrit of Long Beach State carded a score of 69-72-64—205 to tie for ninth with Austin Fox of Pacific, who came in at 66-68-71—205.
Michael Cliff led host Fresno State with a score of 69-67-71—207 to tie for 14th with Matt Moomjian of UC Santa Barbara, who shot 71-67-69—207, while Evan Peterson of St. Mary’s tied for 16th at 66-68-74—208, and Eirik Thomassen of Cal State Northridge tied for 19th at 69-70-70—209.
Ethan Davidson of Sacramento State tied for 24th at 73-71-67—211, Ramiz Jamal of UC Irvine tied for 27th at 73-68-72—213, Justin Cross of Cal Baptist tied for 30th at 68-74-72—214, Tanner Podres of Cal Poly SLO tied for 35th at 76-69-70—215, and Matthew Huo of UC Riverside tied for 57th at 72-77-70—219.
Brigham Young recorded a score of 281-273-268—822, 30-under, to win by five strokes over Long Beach State, which finished at 274-280-273—827, followed by San Jose State at 280-280-269—829, while San Diego totaled 281-279-273—833 to tie for fourth with Fresno State, which wound up at 283-272-278—833.
UC Santa Barbara was sixth at 288-280-278—846, followed by Cal State Northridge at 280-280-290—850, Seattle at 296-286-271—853, Pacific at 284-282-289—855 and Sacramento State at 292-284-280—856.
UC Irvine was 12th at 296-282-287—865, followed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 297-286-285—868, California Baptist at 287-296-290—873, and UC Riverside at 302-301-309—912.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=18625
