Rohnert Park, Calif. - On April 12th and 13th the Sonoma State men's golf team played host for the first time in the 2020-21 athletic season in their very own SSU Spring Invite. The Seawolves have won two straight tournament championships coming into the week and looked to close out their spring season on a high at the Santa Rosa Country Club. 

Round 1: The Sonoma State men's golf team finished round one of the SSU Spring Invite just three shots back of fellow CCAA member, Cal State East Bay. With beautiful conditions

this week's participating teams were really able to attack the course and record some low scores. Of the five Seawolves competing in the team, four recorded a first round of even par or lower. Thomas Jenkins Jr. went on a tear for SSU on the back nine as he would record a team low 69 (-3) after round one. Jenkins shot an astounding 6-under on the backside including birdies on 16 and 17, and an eagle on the par five 18th to close out his round.

Devin Gregg, Dylan Otto, and Nick Friedman all finished within three strokes of each other as well. Gregg had a strong front nine with three birdies and Otto bounced back nicely on his final nine as he recorded five birdies to finish his round. Despite a triple bogey on the 16th hole for Friedman, he would finish the day strong with a birdie on 18 and help pull SSU to within a few strokes of East Bay. 

Along with the competing team in this week's tournament, SSU also has three individual players competing in Griffin Pace, Lucas Happy, and Max Morris. Pace and Happy led all individual competitors in the SSU Invite after round one as Pace finished (-2) and Happy at (-1). Despite a double bogey on the first hole, Pace never looked back, recording seven birdies on the day and a 2-under par back nine. Happy had a very clean round for the Seawolves recording just two bogeys and three birdies on the day.      

The Seawolves head into the final round of the tournament well in contention for the team championship and will look to close out their spring season on a high note. 

Round 2: The second day of the SSU Invite would prove tough for multiple competing teams but it would come down to the final few holes between Academy of Art, Cal State East Bay, and SSU. The Seawolves would shoot a combined 2-over on the front nine and would drop some strokes on leading Academy of Art. However, Dylan Otto, Nick Friedman and Casey Hughes would all shoot under par on the back side to make a run at the tournament championship. Down seven strokes heading into the final par-5 18th, the Seawolves would score three birdies and an eagle from Dylan Otto to get to (-8) as a team. However, it would be too little too late for SSU as they would lose by two strokes to Academy of Art who finished at (-10) as a team.
 

Sonoma State's Dylan Otto emerged as one of the top golfers in the tournament after the two rounds as he finished t-2nd individually at (-4) and recorded a 69 (-3) on the final day. His electrifying eagle on the 18th par-5 would provide a spark for the Seawolves to finish the tournament and help push SSU into 2nd place. Griffin Pace and Lucas Happy would lead the tournament for individuals as Pace finished (-3) overall t-4th and Happy would finish (-1) overall in 10th. Thomas Jenkins Jr. and Devin Gregg would also finish in the top-10 with Gregg finishing at (-2) and Jenkins at (-3) for the tournament. The players put up a great fight this week. They came back after a few mental lapses and retained their composure to finish strong.  Unfortunately we came up a few short" (Verhunce, HC).  



The Seawolves finish their spring season of competition with top-2 finishes in each of their four tournaments to emerge as a top team in the west region. "We should still retain our #1 ranking in the west region and hope to have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Regionals May 5th-8th in Olympia, Washington".  

The Sonoma State men's golf team awaits their NCAA fate with the NCAA Regional selections later this month. Congratulations on a terrific spring season and Go Seawolves!