UC Irvine claimed its second Big West Conference Men’s Championship in four years by holding off UC Davis by one stroke on the Eisenhower Course at Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms in the City of Industry.
The Anteaters, who last won the title in 2015, carded a score of 284-285-283— 852, 12-under-par to claim their eighth overall conference title, while UC Davis had individual champion Ryan Han and finished at 293-280-280—853, followed by UC Santa Barbara at 284-290-286—860 and Long Beach State at 289-287-287—863.
“I’m thrilled for these guys,” UC Irvine Coach Paul Smolinski said. “This is the best tournament we’ve had all year, and it was by far the best single day of golf we’ve had as a team.
“We really had nothing to lose. We just wanted to stay loose and stay with the process. That’s what it’s all about for us, staying with the process and having them play the way they know they need to in order to play their best golf.”
Cal State Fullerton was fifth at 282-287-297—866, followed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 301-288-287—876, Cal State Northridge at 305-288-286—879, UC Riverside at 290-296-299—885 and Hawaii at 309-300-298—907.
Han, a UC Davis junior from Hollister, made a par on the second playoff hole to defeat Brandon Bauman of UC Santa Barbara for the individual title.
With a birdie on the final hole of regulation, Han finished with a score of 73-67-68—208, 8-under, to get into the playoff with Bauman, who wound up at 67-72-69—208.
“I am very proud of Ryan, he is a deserving winner,” UC Davis Coach Cy Williams said. “The best part of his game is his mental game, and at the end of the day, that’s what won it for him. He is a great role model for the rest of the team on how to compete.”
David Kim of UC Irvine shot 73-69-69—211 to tie for third with Martin Manalo of Cal State Fullerton, who totaled 69-70-72—211, while Jonathan Kang of UC Irvine was fifth at 69-71-72—212, followed by Brett Bennett of UC Santa Barbara at 73-70-70—213.
Felix Mory of Cal State Northridge carded a score of 74-70-70—214 to tie for seventh with Jesse Bratz of UC Davis, who finished at 71-70-73—214, while Joe Fryer of Long Beach State shot 75-72-68—215 to tie for ninth with Nick Swanson of UC Santa Barbara, who came in at 68-75-72—215.
Jimmy Castles led Cal Poly SLO in a tie for 15th at 75-72-70—217, while Justin Arcano of Hawaii tied for 23rd at 72-73-75—220, and Brandon Tsujimoto of UC Riverside tied for 26th at 75-70-77—222.
Rounding out the scoring for Big West champion UC Irvine were Ramiz Jamal, who shot
71-75-70—216 to finish in a tie for 11th that included his Anteater teammate Ramiz Jamal, who totaled 71-75-70—216, and Jonathan Young tied for 23rd at 76-72-72—220.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=14935.
