Men’s golf shows promise on day one at Sonoma State Invitational, struggles to maintain strength on day two.

UCSD opened its fall golf season this past Monday and Tuesday at the Sonoma State Invitational at Foxtail Golf Club. Although UCSD was in fourth place after day one, a bad second day relegated the Tritons to the sixth spot out of 12 participating schools. UCSD’s two best performers, seniors Jeff Roseth and Clayton Yamaguchi, finished tied for fourth.

DAY ONE

UCSD shook off a slow start in the opening round of day one to end the day in fourth place. After shooting a 301 in the first round, good for only eighth out of 12, The Tritons shot a 285 (3-under par) in the second round to end the day at 586(+10).

“We got off to a slow start but did a great job bouncing back to post a solid three-under second round,” UCSD Head Coach Jim Ragan told the Athletics Department.

After the first day, host Sonoma State came out on top at an even 576, closely followed by Dominican University of California, which hit a 579 (+3), and William Jessup, which hit a 580 (+4).

UCSD’s own Roseth also started the day off slow, posting a measly 73 (+1) in the first round — tying him for 12th — only to rebound and post a 67 (-5) in the second round for a total of 140 (-4), which placed him on the podium for the day at third. Roseth had the low round of the day, tying with Oskar Frick of Academy of Art, and had the low round of his career. His previous best was a 69 at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational earlier in the year.

Yamaguchi had a steady day, hitting an even 72 in the first round and one-under at 71 in the second round, to finish one-under par at 143 for the day. After being tied for eighth in the morning, Yamaguchi’s solid second round brought him up to the fifth spot.

“Jeff is really playing well, and Clayton is steady as always,” Ragan said.

Frick had an impressive 135 (-9), recording two rounds of 67 and 68. Junior Johnnie Greco of William Jessup was second after one day at 138 (-6).

Fellow Tritons, including senior Daniel Yang (149, T-29th), sophomore Grant Amerson (155, 44th) and sophomore Mateusz Kucz (159, T-53rd), were also competing on the par-72, 6,851-yard North course. Yang hit 3-under par in the second round after shooting a poor 80 in the morning round.

“Tomorrow will be a valuable day for the team, from an experience standpoint,” Ragan said. “Hopefully our play today in the second round continues in the morning.”

DAY TWO

UCSD could not follow up on those promises in the second day, however, as it fell back to sixth after shooting a tournament-low 308 for a total of 894 (+30), leaving it tied with Cal State San Bernardino.

“We had a tough day as a team,” Ragan said. “However, both Clayton and Jeff had great showings and a pair of top-five finishes makes for a good start to the season.”

Sonoma State took home the team title, hitting an 872 (+8). Dominican finished second (876, +12) with Sonoma State and William Jessup completing the podium at a certain distance (885, +21). It is Sonoma State’s third-straight victory in the tournament.

Roseth and Yamaguchi tied for fourth with Sonoma State’s Justin Shluker at 217 (+1), finishing at the top of the California Collegiate Athletic Association leaderboard for the tournament. After a 73–67 first day, Roseth hit 77, while Yamaguchi shot 74 after a 72–71 first day.

Yamaguchi had a field-high 39 pars over three rounds while Roseth had 38. The two Tritons were named to the all-tournament team, with Roseth earning his first career top-10 finish.

Frick dominated, finishing first at 10-under 206 (67–68–71), a six-stroke advantage over second-place Greco (212, -4) from William Jessup, while Dominican junior Drew Nelson (215, -1) rounded out the podium.

For the Tritons, Yang tied for 33rd (80–69–78– -227), Kucz tied for 50th (79–80–79– -238) and Amerson tied for 53rd (77–78–85– -240).

“Hopefully we will regroup quickly and be able to regain the success we had during the second round for the tournament next week,” Ragan said.

The Tritons will compete at Cal State Monterey Bay’s Otter Invitational on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 at Bayonet and Black Horse in Seaside.