UCSD golf began its 2002 season at the Point Loma Invitational last Monday and Tuesday at Riverwalk Golf Course. In the team’s first tournament since early November, the Tritons nabbed first place, finishing three strokes ahead of Master’s College.
The difference for UCSD came in the second round of the tournament, as they shot 294 as a team. Master’s College’s shot 297. In the first and third rounds, both teams finished with identical 311 and 301 team scores.
California State University San Bernardino and Point Loma Nazarene rounded out the top four finishers, with the Coyotes ending the tournament six strokes behind the Tritons, and the Crusaders finishing seven strokes behind UCSD.
California State University Monterey Bay and Claremont McKenna both finished with overall scores of 914 to tie for fifth place.
Sophomores Brian Duckworth and Galen Farris led UCSD — both finished in a five-way tie for 5th place with a three-round score of 224 along with Holy Names’ Matt Thornton, Monterey Bay’s Chris Marin, and UC Santa Barbara’s J.R. Reyes.
Tritons Alan Scheer and Greg Wilson continued the sophomore sweep of top finishers for UCSD, ending the tournament with overall scores of 228 to end in a three-way tie for 15th place. Sheer battled his way back after hitting an 81 in the first round by posting second- and third-round scores of 73 and 74, respectively.
Sophomore Blake Sneider and juniors Andy Thomson and Ryan Gale rounded out the scoring for the Tritons, finishing 25th, 26th and 29th respectively.
In the par-72 course, Point Loma’s Josh Colace was the only competitor to finish under par after three rounds, firing a 69, 72, and 72 to end three under par. The closest finishers after Colace were Master’s College’s Ryan Higton and Redlands College’s Jordan Bailey, who both finished at six over par with final scores of 222.
Marin had the low round of the tournament, shooting a 68 in the first round to join Colace as the only two competitors to shoot under 70.
The Tritons will travel to San Leandro, Calif., to participate in the Holy Names College Tournament from Feb.18 to Feb. 19 at the Monarch Bay Golf Course.
