Cal Poly to Compete in Big West Golf Championship at La Quinta

Sunday, April 30

La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, Calif.

8 a.m.

Big West Conference Championship

Jackson Parrish led all Cal Poly golfers with a 73.3 scoring average this season.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly to Compete in Big West Golf Championship at La Quinta

4/26/2023 12:04:00 PM | Men's Golf

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly will challenge eight other schools for top team and individual honors at the 2023 Big West Conference Men's Golf Championship, scheduled for Sunday through Tuesday at the La Quinta Country Club.

Coach Phil Rowe's Mustangs earned a pair of top-10 finishes in the spring portion of their 2022-23 schedule and competed in four other tournaments with strong fields in preparation for this weekend's event.

Eighteen holes will be played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on the 7,060-yard, par-72 course where The American Express, formerly known as the Bob Hope Desert Classic, is held.

In the 2022 Big West finals, also held at La Quinta, UC Davis enjoyed a wire-to-wire win to claim its fourth league title. The Aggies finished seven shots ahead of 2021 Big West champion Long Beach State. Cal Poly was seventh in the nine-team field a year ago following a third-place finish in 2021.

The 2022 individual crown was also claimed by the Aggies as senior Thomas Hutchison closed with a 13-under 203 total.

The Big West champion earns an automatic berth in the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, and the individual medalist also earns his place in the regional field if he is not a member of the winning team.

"The Mustangs would love to follow in the footsteps of our conference championship women's golf team and win the Big West Trophy at La Quinta Country Club," said Rowe. "We will need to beat some in-form and higher-ranked teams to extend our championship golf season to NCAA regionals through a win."

Cal Poly finished second in the Orange County Collegiate Classic at Coto de Caza and ninth in the Duck Invitational at Eugene, Oregon while also competing in prestigious tournaments such as The Goodwin and The Prestige.

"Our team has shown promise in the past few events after contending in the top half of strong fields in our spring break trips to Oregon and Stanford and then UC Davis's El Macero," said Rowe. "While we did not have any rounds in the 60s in the latter tournament, we were encouraged by consistency and look forward to notching up some of our lowest rounds yet at La Quinta CC.

"The course and conditions will be pristine as always and we will be able to lean on some experience in this tournament at this course," Rowe added, noting Austin Liu's seventh-place finish n 2021 and Baron Szeto's fourth-place tie in 2022. "In preparation for the championship, we have been enjoying great green conditions on our facility and around our Central Coast courses.

"Our student-athletes are fortunate for the support of the community and its fabulous courses. Some of our players will be playing a local US Open Qualifier at La Purisima this week, so we look forward to seeing which ones will progress to the Sectionals with a shot at qualification to play at LACC in June."

Tee times are 10 a.m. Sunday and Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Liu and Szeto will be joined by Mustang teammates Joey Zambri, Jackson Parrish and Ben Quick. Drew Kim is the team's alternate for the Big West Championship.

Parrish leads the Mustangs in scoring with a 73.3 average, posting three top-20 finishes and 10 rounds of par or better this year, including three rounds i the 60s.

Liu and Zambri both have compileld 73.9 scoring averages over 24 rounds -- Liu with eight rounds of par or better and Zambri with five. Quick carries a 74.7 average into the Big West finals and Szeto 75.5.

Liu's best finish this season was sixth place in the Orange County Collegiate Classic while Parrish posted a fourth-place finish at the same event.

Cal Poly is seeking its second Big West team title, hoping to duplicate the performance of the 2006 squad at Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa Margarita. Two Mustangs have claimed Big West individual titles -- Travis Bertoni in 2005, also at Rancho Santa Margarita, and Justin De Los Santos at the 2015 finals held at the San Luis Obispo Country Club.

Seedings, determined by the Golfstat.com rankings, are No. 1 Long Beach State (58th nationally), No. 2 Cal State Fullerton (97th), No. 3 UC Davis (115th), No. 4 CSUN (133rd), No. 5 UC Irvine (151st), No. 6 Hawai'i (156th), No. 7 Cal Poly (158th), No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (211th) and No. 9 UC Riverside (239).

UC San Diego (180th), still in transition to full NCAA Division I status, is not eligible for the Big West title. CSU Bakersfield does not field a men's golf team.

Ian Gilligan of Long Beach State is the highest-ranked player from a Big West school in Golfstat's national rankings, rated No. 16. Gilligan is the lone Big West competitor in the top 250.

The six regional sites are Auburn University Club (Auburn, Alabama), The Cliffs at Keowee Falls (Salem, S.C.), Eagle Eye Golf Club, (Bath, Mich.), Bear's Best (Las Vegas, NV), Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club (Norman, Okla.) and The Institute Golf Club (Morgan Hill, Calif.).

The 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships will be hosted by Arizona State on May 26-31 on the Grayhawk Golf Club's Raptor Course in Scottdale, Arizona.