ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Tuesday, April 11th, the Sonoma State men's golf team concluded their three round event in the NCAA West Regional Spring Preview at Foxtail Golf Club, the site of the official NCAA regional in May. The preview would act as the team's final event of the regular season before the CCAA Championships on April 17th. With recent rain followed by hot weather, the course contained an interesting mix of very tall rough, and very firm greens. This led to the course playing a total of 1.68 strokes more difficult per round compared to the fall, and a total of over five strokes for the entire tournament.
The Seawolves had a dominant fall season but were looking for a quality finish to solidify their regional selection and close out their spring campaign. That's exactly what they would do as SSU recorded their best team finish since October. A stellar second round would catapult the team to the top spot at the end of the first day, but a late charge from fellow CCAA member Cal State San Marcos in the third round would crown them tournament champs. Sonoma State would finish alone in second place and be the only other team to finish the three round event under par.
ROUNDS 1 AND 2:
The Seawolves starting five would grind through the morning first round, with just two players recording rounds of even par or better. It would be the afternoon round where SSU would make their push and record the lowest team score of the second round and the second lowest of the entire day. They would jump six spots and find themselves in a tie for first with Cal State San Marcos.
Senior golfer
Griffin Pace would lead the charge with the second lowest individual score of the entire tournament, recording four birdies and an eagle on the par 5 4th to finish the second round with a 67 (-5). Fellow senior
Jules Lavigne put up the most birdies in the second round with five, finishing with his best round of the day at 1-under. Lavigne would finish the tournament in the top-10 in par 4 scoring, averaging 4.07 per par 4.
Aidan Oliver and
Lucas Happy would each put up 1-over-par rounds to conclude a great second round for the Seawolves as all five golfers combined for nearly 20 birdies.
FINAL ROUND:
Unfortunately, the Cougars would put up the lowest round of the tournament to run away with the team title on Tuesday, posting an impressive 281 (-7). Sophomore
Colin Huang would bounce back in the final round with the team's lowest score at 68 (-4). Four birdies and zero bogeys would complete a flawless day for the Newport Beach native and stand as one of his best rounds of the spring season.
Lavigne would follow with a final round of 1-over-par and then Pace at 2-over-par as the team combined for a 291 (+3). Despite a tough finish in the final round, the Seawolves would hold off Hawaii Hilo and finish alone in second place and as the only other team to conclude the tournament under par. Pace's standout round of 5-under and two rounds under par for Huang earned them both All-Tournament team recognition and top-5 individual finishes. Lavigne would put up a very consistent tournament as well for SSU and finish t-14th with a 217 (+1).
Head coach
Val Verhunce also put together a second team to compete in the tournament. First year members
Moses Greene and
Ryan Stewart led the final round with 3-over-par performances. Stewart would stand as the top finisher for the second team in a tie for 67th place individually out of over 100 golfers.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves stand as the 19th ranked team in the country according to Golfstat rankings and picked up a crucial 2nd place finish in a stacked 20-team field. SSU will head to Riverside next week to start postseason play at the CCAA Championships at Victoria Golf Club. After that, they will hope to hear their name called for a regional spot and return to Foxtail Golf Club for the 2023 NCAA West Regional where Sonoma State will act as host to the regional as well.
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