Big West Conference Championship
Final Round of Big West Conference Finals Canceled Due to High Winds
4/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
SAN JACINTO, Calif. – Final round of the 2014 Big West Conference Men's Golf Championship was canceled Tuesday due to high winds at The Country Club of Soboba Springs and Cal State Fullerton was crowned champion for the second straight year.
After several attempts to get the third and final round completed, wind speeds of up to 40 miles per hour proved to be too much and the final round of competition was cancelled, awarding the leader after day two the 2014 championship. This is the first time the tournament has been shortened since 2003 when rain allowed just two rounds of competition.
"The start was delayed until 9 a.m. and we observed the first 50 minutes of play and found that golf balls weren't holding on the greens," stated Rob Halvaks, deputy commissioner. "With no prediction of certainty of when the conditions would be playable, we met with the SCGA rules officials and determined cancelling the final round was our only option."
After 36 holes of play, Cal State Fullerton carded a two-day total of 578, giving the Titans a two-stoke advantage over UC Davis (289-291-580). A stellar performance on day two launched UC Riverside to a school-best third place finish after firing a 36-hole score of 586. Long Beach State placed fourth with a score of 587 (295-292) and is followed by UC Irvine (588). Hawai'i (591) grabbed the sixth slot while Cal State Northridge (595), Cal Poly (599) and UC Santa Barbara (602) round out the nine-team field.
UC Davis' Matt Hansen claimed individual medalist honors after blasting an 8-under-par 136 to become the first Aggie to win the championship since Austin Graham grabbed the title in 2011. Cal State Fullerton's Mark Anguiano, Hawai'i's Nainoa Calip and Cal State Northridge's Kyler Sauer tied for second place with a score of 141 and Ryan Knapp of UC Irvine and Kevin Lee from Long Beach State shared the fifth slot.
Cal Poly sophomore Cam Price (pictured above) finished tied for 14th place with two other golfers at 147 while freshman Justin De Los Santos finished in a tie for 32nd place with his 152 aggregate. Johnny Castles placed 19th, following his first-round 76 with a 73 for a five-over-par 149 total on the par-72, 7,137-yard course. Teammate Cole Nygren finished in a tie for 32nd place while Mitch Martin placed 37th.
Cal State Fullerton advances to the NCAA Division I men's regionals as the conference automatic qualifier. This year's six site are at Auburn University Club (Auburn, Ala.), Lonnie Pool Golf Course (Raleigh, N.C.), The Club at Old Hawthorne (Columbia, Mo.), Briggs Ranch Golf Club (San Antonio, Texas), Eugene Country Clun (Eugene, Ore.), Rich Harvest Farms (Sugar Grove, Ill.). The six-day NCAA Men's Golf Championship is scheduled for May 23-28 at the Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.
Selections for the regionals is slated for Monday, May 5 at 7 a.m. (PDT) on the Golf Channel.
On May 7, De Los Santos was named Big West Freshman of the Year and earned All-Big West honorable mention praise while Price earned a spot on the All-Big West second team.
Big West Men's Golf Player of the Year
Mark Anguiano, Cal State Fullerton
Big West Men's Golf Freshman of the Year
Justin De Los Santos, Cal Poly
Big West Men's Golf Coach of the Year
Jason Drotter, Cal State Fullerton
First Team All-Big West
Mark Anguiano, Cal State Fullerton, Sr.
Matt Hansen, UC Davis, Sr.
Ryan Tetrault, Cal State Fullerton, Jr.
Kevin Lee, Long Beach State, So.
Pete Fernandez, UC Irvine, Jr.
Corey Gard, Cal State Fullerton, Sr.
Second Team All-Big West
Kyler Sauer, Cal State Northridge, Sr.
David Gazzolo, UC Riverside, Jr.
Cam Price, Cal Poly, So.
Ben Corfee, UC Davis, So.
Jordan Epstein, UC Santa Barbara, Sr.
Honorable Mention All-Big West
Glen Scher, UC Santa Barbara, Sr.
Justin De Los Santos, Cal Poly, Fr.
Nainoa Calip, Hawai'i, Sr.
J.J. Holen, Long Beach State, Jr.
Ryan Knapp, UC Irvine, Sr.
