The UCSD men’s golf team opened up its season in Bellingham, Wash., Sept. 25-26 at the 35th annual Western Washington University Invitational held at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club.
The Tritons were trying to improve on last year’s 15th place finish at the invitational against a 14-team field that included fellow California Collegiate Athletic Association competitors Cal State Bakersfield, Chico State, Sonoma State, Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State Monterey Bay.
The team faced a busy day one, playing two full rounds on the 6,575 yard, par 72, tree-lined layout.
“That’s the biggest difference between collegiate and high school golf — the mental and physical conditioning it takes to play at this level,” sophomore Ryan Bailey said. “You just don’t play 72 holes in three days during high school, and it becomes much tougher to keep focus.”
Bailey and sophomore Billy Olsen were both focused in the first round, as each carded a 74 to lead the Tritons. As a team, UCSD finished at 308 in the first round, earning the Tritons 12th after the morning competition.
Cal State Bakersfield led after round one shooting a team score of 284, four under par.
In the afternoon, both the weather and the men warmed up as the team fired a 289 and sophomore Noah Moss shot a team best 69. Lone junior Luke Leveillee signed with a 72 and Bailey and Olsen followed their opening rounds with strong scores, posting 73 and 75, respectively.
“We showed our potential in the second round with a one-over-par 289,” Bailey said. “Unfortunately, we also showed that we are a young team in the first round.”
UCSD improved two spots to 10th with stellar afternoon play while tournament host Western Washington University grabbed a three-stroke lead over Cal State Bakersfield. The Vikings fired a 276, eight strokes better than the next best second-round score.
During day two, the Tritons cooled off, shooting a 309 for a team total of 908, placing the team 11th.
Bailey supported his excellent first day with another 74, placing him tied for 23rd overall with a three-round total of 221, 18 strokes behind medalist Brady Baguio from Cal State Bakersfield.
Moss and Leveillee backed up Bailey with 78s to tie for 45th and 47th, respectively. Olsen also finished in a tie for 47th. Sophomore Nathan Phan finished 73rd.
Western Washington University defended its title on its home course, shooting a steady 287 for a two-day total of 854, five strokes better than second-place Cal State Bakersfield.
“We were disappointed with the overall performance, but we played well in the second round,” head coach Mike Wydra said. “It’s hard to be consistent when we had one day of class, then our first team meeting and then a plane ride to our first tournament. All the other competitors had nearly three weeks of classes before the invitational and it was a huge advantage.”
According to Bailey, the players from last year now have the experience to compete at a higher level and lead the younger players.
“We’re a very young team, but we learned a lot last year,” Bailey said. “We learned how to manage our games on the golf course and we hope to put that into effect this year.”
Bailey added that he expects to see a large improvement as the year progresses.
“This is the first week and we still have some obvious work to do,” Bailey said. “We have the ability and skill and our goal is to make it to nationals and win at least one tournament this year.”
The Tritons hope to get into a winning routine at the Chico State Invitational on Oct. 9-10.
