Big West Conference Championship
UC Riverside Edges Cal Poly for Big West Men's Golf Championship
5/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Cal Poly overcame a six-stroke deficit on the front nine and led by three strokes, but UC Riverside played the back nine at even par with two birdies and an eagle on the final hole, capturing its first Big West Conference Men's Golf Championship in 11 years Wednesday at the Wood Ranch Golf Club.
Coach Scott Cartwright's Mustangs, seeking their first conference crown since 2006, settled for second place in the nine-team field, going eight over par after the turn on a mostly overcast 63-degree day.
UC Riverside posted a four-person final-round even-par 288 total Wednesday for a two-under-par 862 aggregate on the 6,930-yard, par-72 course, three shots ahead of Cal Poly, which carded a 285, the best team total of the day and the best for the Mustangs in the tournament. UC Santa Barbara edged UC Davis and Long Beach State by one stroke for third place.
Cal Poly, which played the back nine at eight under par in Tuesday's second round, was eight over par Wednesday, including two bogeys and a pair of double-bogeys on the 207-yard, par-3 17th hole.
"The team got off to a great start today, but just could not sustain it all day," said Cartwright. "We won the day, but it just was not good enough.
"I'm really proud of these men and the way they handled themselves through some adversity," Cartwright added.
Junior Cole Nygren (pictured above) was Cal Poly's top finisher, placing second with rounds of 74, 70 and 69 for a three-day 54-hole three-under-par 213 total, one shot behind UC Santa Barbara's Brandon Bauman (72-69-71-212). Nygren eagled the 540-yard, par-5 sixth hole and also carded three birdies and a pair of bogeys for his seventh career round in the 60s.
Nick Engelhardt, also a sophomore, carded his second career 69 with five birdies and a pair of bogeys, finishing tied for sixth place with a one-over-par 217 total. He started the day in 21st place.
Jesse Yap, another sophomore, finished in a tie for 12th place, climbing three spots after carding three birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey for a 73 and a 218 total.
Junior Justin De Los Santos, who captured the 2015 Big West individual title, parlayed four birdies, four bogeys and a double-bogey into a round of 74, finishing in a tie for 27th place with a 223 total.
Jimmy Castles, tied for second place after an opening-round 70, shared 27th place with De Los Santos and one other golfer following his final-round 77. Castles, yet another sophomore, was three under par after eight holes Wednesday.
Behind Bauman and Nygren were three golfers tied for third place with 215 totals — Matt Wilson of Cal State Fullerton, Tim Snyder of CSUN and Matt Lutz of UC Riverside. All three posted 71s Wednesday.
UC Riverside was nursing a one-stroke lead over Cal Poly before Brandon Tsujimoto eagled the final hole, virtually clinching the team title for the Highlanders.
UC Riverside's women's team also captured a Big West title two weeks earlier at the Kapalua Bay Golf Course on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
All five Mustangs who competed in the Big West finals return next year.
Nygren finished fourth in par-3 scoring at even par and led the field in par-5 scoring at eight under par while Yap was second (minus-1) and Engelhardt sixth (plus-two) in par-4 scoring.
Nygren and UC Riverside's Andrew Spilman both notched a tournament-teading two eagles while Castles was second with his 13 birdies. Yap led the field with 41 pars.
The Big West team champion and selected individuals will compete in one of six NCAA regionals, all scheduled for May 16-18. Sites are the Ol' Colony Golf Complex in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Gallery Golf Club in Tucson, Arizona; Blackwolf Run Meadow Valley Course in Kohler, Wisconsin; Championship Course at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Karsten Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Vanderbilt Legends Club in Nashville, Tennessee.
The 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship will be held May 27 through June 1 at the Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon.
Selections for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships will be announced on Golf Channel Morning Drive and streamed live on the Golf Channel website on Thursday. Morning Drive starts at 5:30 a.m. Pacific with the regional selections announcement taking place at 6:30 a.m. Pacific.
The field for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships will consist of 81 qualifying schools, which includes 31 conference automatic qualifiers, 50 teams selected at-large and 45 individuals not on those teams.
Thirteen teams and ten individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals.
