Western Washington rallied in the final round of the Chico State Wildcat Invitational at Sevillano Links in Corning, Calif., Tuesday, shooting a five-over 293, the second lowest score of the tournament, to climb from sixth place after two rounds into a tie for third.
Western shot disappointing opening rounds of 317 and 306 but made a considerable improvement on Tuesday afternoon thanks largely to Jake Webb's (right) two-under-par 70, the lowest individual score of the three rounds, which helped him move into a tie for 15th on 11-over 299.
“Today’s third round was far better than our first two,” said WWU head coach Steve Card. “This was a challenging and difficult golf course and if you didn’t hit straight shots you were immediately penalized. On the other hand, I’m not thrilled either. We’re not where we need to be and hopefully we’ll figure things out in short order.”
Host Chico State, ranked No.5 nationally, led throughout, increasing its lead with every round. The Wildcats finished with a 54-hole total of 894 - 20 strokes better than second-place Grand Canyon.
Chico State's Kyle Souza, the defending NCAA II champion, shot four-over par 220 (71-76-73) to take medalist honors. He also won at the Grand Canyon Invitational two weeks ago, his first collegiate competition since winning the national title.
As for the other Vikings, Nick Varelia and Sandy Vaughan both finished tied for 18th on 228, Dylan Goodwin (named GNAC Player of the Week for his T7 at Grand Canyon) was T35 on 234, and Brian Barhanovich came in tied for 63rd on 246.
Western completes the fall portion of its schedule on Oct. 24-25 at the Cal State Monterey Bay Invitational, where it will be hoping to record its first win of the season.
My bad for not posting this until now - Western senior Sophie Elstrott (right) was named the GNAC Women's Golfer of the Week for October 2-8 following her 36-hole score of 148 at St Martin's which earned her medalist honors for the second successive year. It was a performance that helped the Vikings defend the team title.
Last week, senior Alexandria Taylor was named the conference's Player of the Week for her tie for eighth at the Viking Invitational at Bellingham GCC where the Vikings tied for first with Sonoma State.
The women's team has two wins and a fifth (Grand Canyon) from its first three events of the 2010-2011 season. It next plays at Sonoma State on October 24-25.
Congratulations to Jamie McRae, Jacek Szenowicz, Favian Yee and Pablo Munoz who won Sunday's Ball Buster Tournament at Shuksan GC with a Gross 64. Second, on 68, was the team of Richard Johnson, Darryl Watson, Ron Johnson and Dave Dyer.
Dan Okamoto, Rob Okamoto, Brian Jong and Dan Sameshima won the Net event with a 61 while Jeff Probst, Todd Hart, Peter Geist and Trevor Brown were second two shots back. Mike Einck won the KP on the 6th and Jacek Szenowicz the Long Drive on the 4th.
Don't forget to sign up for this Saturday's Memorial at Lake adden, the men's club's last tournament of the year. It's an individual Net and Gross by division with optional deuce and skins game.
Arrive at 7am for breakfast served by Mary, Allison and Chelsea. It's included in the entry fee. At 8am there will be a General Membership Meeting with election of 2012 officers. The golf starts with a shotgun at 9am.
In the first event following her first professional win, Jessi Gebhardt shot a disppointing 77 in the opening round of the Arizona Women's Open at the Wigwam Resort, ten miles west of Phoenix. She trails leader Selanee Henderson by ten.
