UCSD participated in The Prestige at the Pro Golf Association West competition on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, and the Tritons finished 17th out of 18 teams amid stiff competition. The tournament was co-hosted by UC Davis and Stanford University with the intent of bringing together some of the nation’s top academic universities, and it is held at the challenging La Quinta course in Palm Desert, Calif.

“”La Quinta is really a great golf course,”” said UCSD head coach Mike Wydra. “”It’s ranked in the top 50 of the U.S. It’s really just fantastically difficult, and we all had a great time playing it.””

Texas Christian University took the lead early in the tournament and never gave it up, coming in first place by 15 strokes with an 11-under-par finish at 853, the only team to finish under par in the tournament. TCU had the lowest scoring rounds in both the first and third rounds, at 284 and 282, respectively, and only Pepperdine University beat it in the second round, as TCU turned in a 286.

UC Irvine, Pepperdine, UCLA and Vanderbilt University rounded out the top five, posting scores of 868, 873, 877 and 880, respectively. These teams also each yielded a top 10 finisher.

University of Kansas and University of Washington tied for sixth place with scores of 882, and UC Davis, University of San Diego and University of Oregon finished in the eighth through 10th positions with scores of 886, 891 and 894, respectively.

Kansas’ Chris Marshall took first place in the tournament overall, with a 9-under-par score of 207, shooting a 67 in the second round, the lowest round score in the competition.

Stanford and University of the Pacific took 11th and 12th with respective scores of 899 and 901, while Rice and Yale University tied for 13th with scores of 902. University of Colorado took 15th with a score of 904, and UC Santa Barbara came in 16th with 922. UCSD finished in 17th with a score of 925, and Air Force rounded out the group in 18th with a score of 934.

Individually, the Tritons posted strong first-round results, but suffered heavily on the second day. This can be partially attributed to the fact that darkness shortened the first day of tournament play and cut many golfers’ second rounds short. This forced them to begin mid-round on the second day, throwing off their rhythm.

Finishing first among UCSD’s five golfers was junior Alan Scheer, who tied for 52nd with three other golfers. Scheer posted rounds of 76, 77 and 75, giving him a 12-over-par 228 score for the tournament.

Freshman Robbie Kramer came in second for the Tritons, tying for 62nd with one other golfer. Kramer shot 76, 78 and 77 in his three rounds, giving him a score of 231, 15-over-par.

Junior Jan Godoski, who finished third out of the five UCSD competitors, tied for 77th place with four other golfers. Godoski started out with a strong first two rounds, shooting 72 and 73, but had a frustrating third round score of 92, bringing his score up to 237, and leaving him at 21-over-par, when he had been just one over going into the third round.

Freshman Ryo Yamada and sophomore Joe Dolby were the final Triton golfers and placed in 83rd and 87th places, respectively. They posted scores of 239 and 246, putting them at 23- and 30-over-par, respectively.