MEN’S GOLF ‘mdash; A hair’s breadth away.
That’s how close the UCSD men’s golf team was to qualifying for the NCAA Division-II Regional Championship.
The Tritons entered last week’s California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship believing they had already earned a berth in regionals. But everything changed during the coach’s meeting the day before competition, when head coach Mike Wydra learned his team would need a victory to make the postseason.
‘[The changes] put a little more pressure on us,’ senior Billy Olsen said. ‘It was a tough thing to deal with, and it was always in the back of our minds.’
In a go-low-or-go-home situation, UCSD could only muster a sixth-place finish at the CCAA Championships, finishing behind five of the nation’s top-10 squads. The Tritons concluded the regular season 11th in the West Region, one spot out of qualifying for the NCAA Regionals.
Despite his team getting knocked out of the postseason on a last-minute change, Wydra was not exactly surprised.
‘We’ve been looking for a fourth and fifth guy all year long,’ he said. ‘None of the other guys were able to go low enough all season. To be honest, [the new changes] are probably a better indicator.’
With the team eliminated from postseason contention, UCSD claimed three of four individual qualifying spots for the NCAA Regional taking place May 4 through May 6.
Sophomore Keith Okasaki, junior Raj Samra and Olsen will represent UCSD at the Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb. The trio has consistently been the top competitors on the team’s roster.
Individual qualifiers are selected from teams that did not advance to the NCAA Regional based on their recent performance as well as their overall play throughout the regular season competitions. According to Wydra, Olsen was most likely selected for regionals due to his solid finishes at the last two tournaments of the season, while Okasaki and Samra earned spots based on consistency in competition play over the entire season.’
Okasaki is coming off a tie for eighth place at the CCAA Championships, where he fired a one over par 217. The finish is his best since finishing second at the St. Edward’s Invitational in Texas Feb. 24 and 25.
The Sacramento native leads the Tritons with a 74.1 scoring average and has been one of the more consistent players during the regular season. This is his first trip to the postseason.
Since transferring from Cypress College this year, Samra has established himself as a leader for the Triton squad. He led his junior college team t
o a conference championship in his sophomore season and is no stranger to postseason play.
Described by Wydra as a steady player who doesn’t get flustered, Samra has proved worthy of the praise, posting four top-15 finishes throughout the year ‘mdash; his best a fourth place at the Point Loma Invitational March 2 and 3. But since then, Samra has struggled to find his rhythm during competitive play and is coming off his lowest finish of the season in the conference championship.
‘Raj is not in bad shape,’ Wydra said. ‘I think he had one of his worst tournaments of the year, but based on his play all season, he was selected. His stroke average is way, way, way good enough to qualify for the national championships.’
Olsen qualified for the NCAA Regional for the second straight year with a consistent 75-75-72 at the CCAA Championship. After finishing T-84 at the GCU/Thunderbird Invitational, Olsen posted a pair of top-25 finishes, including his 19th-place finish at last week’s championships.
‘I think Billy really impressed the selection committee with his play this past week,’ Wydra said. ‘He has really come on strong after struggling early on this season.’
The Tritons haven’t had an individual qualify for the NCAA National Championship since 1980, Wydra’s first year as head coach. That year, Bruce Nakamura finished second in the nation.
Okasaki, Samra and Olsen will try and change that in the coming weeks. The NCAA Regional will feature three rounds spread over three days ‘mdash; a change in format from regular collegiate play which features 36 holes the first day and 18 the second.
The top 10 teams from both the West and Midwest Regions will be competing for five spots in the NCAA National Championships. All individuals not on the five qualifying teams will compete for a single individual spot.
Wydra believes that his three golfers have a good chance of being that lone individual if they’re on top of their game.
‘The people who play the best will likely be on advancing teams, which is good,’ he said.
That leaves nearly 80 individuals vying for only one spot, forcing Okasaki, Samra or Olsen to post a Nakamura-like run to advance. But the difficulty of Wilderness Ridge Golf Club will play into the hands of the Triton golfers, according to Wydra.
‘The fact that it’s a tough course bodes well for us,’ Wydra said. ‘We specialize in tough courses by playing the harder courses in town and in the tournaments we choose to play.’
Readers can contact Matt Croskey at [email protected].