The University of San Francisco captured its first title in almost five years, winning the Farms Invitational by one stroke over arch-rival Santa Clara and UCLA at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe.
Matthew McCarty of Santa Clara claimed the individual championship.
The Dons, whose last victory came in the The Triumph at Puma Valley on March 12, 2013, posted a score of 292-288-291—871, 7-over-par.
“It is always a great week when you finish on top of the scoreboard,” USF Coach Jack Kennedy said. “For as happy as I am with the result, I am even more proud of the way we competed all week. The guys were determined, confident, and really found the fun in competing for titles.
“This is a great way to start the spring and we can’t wait to get back to work for The Prestige (the Dons’ next tournament). To finish the way we did in our last hole was really something special to watch. Big time players make big time shots at big moments and our guys had the goods when it counted.”
Santa Clara posted a score of 285-299-288—872, while UCLA finished at 289-297-286—872.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was fourth at 289-303-282—874, followed by UC Riverside at 293-300-284—877, University of San Diego at 291-300-299—890 and New Mexico State at 297-312-302—911.
Sacramento State was eighth at 293-312-309—914, followed by Seattle at 295-326-302–923 and Idaho at 305-307-313—925.
McCarty, a Santa Clara sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz., claimed his first college title with a score of 70-71-71—212, 1-under, while Brandon Tsujimoto of UC Riverside shot 73-70-70—213 to tie for second with Hidetoshi Yoshihara of UCLA, who finished at 72-71-70—213.
“It’s awesome,” said McCarty, whose best previous finish was third in the Cougar Classic last season. “I don’t think it’s set in yet. I’ve never won anything of this magnitude. I hit the ball well every day and gave myself good looks. I putted well and didn’t miss easy shots.”
Nick Engelhardt of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo totaled 72-77-66—215 to tie for fourth with Soren Lind of USF, who wound up at 73-71-71—215, while Zack Overstreet of Seattle was sixth at 65-76-75—216.
Tim Widing of USF posted a score of 77-68-72—217 to tie for seventh with Derek Ackerman of Santa Clara, who finished at 72-73-72—217, while Jimmy Castles of Cal Poly SLO shot 74-71-73—218 to tie for ninth with Tyler Moore of UC Riverside, who totaled 77-74-67—218 and Michiel Eyre of Santa Clara, who came in at 69-74-75—218.
Daniel Lopez led San Diego in a tie for 12th at 70-78-71—219, while Otto Vanhatalo of San Diego State tied for 20th at 71-72-78—221 and Eric Olsem of Sacramento State tied for 22nd at 75-73-74—222.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion USF were Toby Briggs in a tie for 17th at 69-79-72—220, Henry Chung in a tie for 22nd at 76-70-76—222 and Alex Chin in a tie for 61st at 74-84-81—239.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=15042.
