The UCSD golf team competed in the Cal State Stanislaus Buzzini Invitational on April 12 and April 13, held at the Turlock Country Club in Turlock, Calif., and finished 10th in a field of 18 teams.
“It’s a very interesting course; it’s an old design, very short and tight, with hard and fast greens,” UCSD head coach Mike Wydra said. “It was deceptively difficult for its length. The course requires some local knowledge to play, and we didn’t have many people who had played it before. I think we started to take to it, and if we had more time to play, we would’ve figured it out.”
On April 12, UCSD struggled in the early round, turning a 307 as a team, one of its highest rounds of the year. The Tritons came back to break under the 300 mark with a 296. But with their 301 on April 13, they finished with a total of 904, 40 over par.
“Next week is the start of the conference championships, and the course couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to [Turlock],” Wydra said. “The mark of a good team is [its] ability to adjust to any course; I don’t think we’re going to see many more courses like this, though.”
California Collegiate Athletic Association- rival UC Davis took first place overall, finishing with an 865, one over par. Its team shot rounds of 287, 287 and 291. Tournament host Cal State Stanislaus turned in rounds of 294, 281 and 292, to finish at 867, three over par. Cal State Bakersfield rounded out the top three with scores of 287, 292 and 298, for a total of 877, 13 over par.
Individually, junior Brian Duckworth controlled the number-one spot for the Tritons and tied for 28th place overall. Despite a difficult first round of 79, he came back on the afternoon of April 12 to shoot a 73 and parred April 13’s round at 72. He finished with a score of 224, eight over par.
Senior team captain Alan Scheer and sophomore Ryo Yamada tied for second place on the Triton squad, strong enough for 43rd place overall, earning a total of 228, 12 over par. Scheer shot rounds of 77, 75 and 76, while Ryo turned in scores of 76, 77 and 75.
Junior Joe Dolby took the four-spot for the Tritons and tied for 57th in the field, with a score of 232, 16 over par. Like Duckworth, he began on April 12, with an 82, far above par, but came back to par the afternoon round at 72. Dolby finished with a 78 on April 13.
Sophomore Justin Grant rounded out UCSD’s team, one shot behind fellow teammate Dolby, with a 233, 17 over par. Grant turned in rounds of 75, 76 and 82.
Taking fourth place overall with a score of 881, 17 over par, was Western Washington University, which had rounds of 286, 291 and 304. St. Martin’s College came in fifth, shooting rounds of 296, 289 and 299 to give it a total of 884, 20 over par. The sixth-place finisher, Nova Southeastern University, had a final score of 889, 25 over, with rounds of 294, 298 and 297.
University of Hawaii-Hilo took seventh place off rounds of 298, 294 and 299, finishing with an 891, 27 over par. Chico State came in eighth place, shooting rounds of 297, 296 and 301, to give it an 894, 30 over. Cross-town rival Point Loma Nazarene finished one place ahead of UCSD with a total of 898, 34 over, off rounds of 293, 305 and 300.
With the conference championships looming ahead, the Triton golf team will be busy preparing.
“We’ll be practicing a lot all week on different kinds of courses,” Wydra said. “The guys were kind of surprised by their finish; they felt they could have done better, but it was really a motivator. There is officially a fire under the UCSD golf team right now.”
CCAA Conference Championships start next week for the Tritons and will take place at the Diablo Grande Resort in Patterson, Calif.
