Tritons fall behind early on day one, fail to make up for lost time on day two to finish in 16th place.
Earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday, the UCSD men’s golf team participated in the Otter Invitational, finishing 16th out of 18 participating teams at Bayonet and Black Horse in the Monterey Bay area. The first and second rounds were played on Monday and the final third round was played on Tuesday.
DAY ONE
The Tritons shot a 304 in the first round and 306 in the second round for a total of 610, 34-over par on Monday. No. 2 Chico State led the field on Monday with a 571 (-5) with top-ranked Nova Southeastern only three strokes behind in second place with 574 (-2). The host No. 6 Cal State Monterey and No. 13 Simon Fraser ended the day tied for third with 581 (+5). The Tritons ended Monday as 16th of the 18 teams competing.
Senior Clayton Yamaguchi played the best for UCSD that day, tying for the 39th position out of 100 competitors. Yamaguchi totalled 149 (+5) for the day with 76 (+4) in the first round and 73 (+1) in the second round.
Sophomore Grant Amerson totalled 151 and tied for the 56th spot. Close behind, senior Jeff Roseth finished with a total of 152 and ended the day tied for the 61st spot. Freshman Jake Haselden made his UCSD debut on Monday, ending the day with a total of 159, tied for 89th. Senior Daniel Yang finished with a total of 162, tying him at 96th.
Roseth competed at the Invitational as the reigning California Collegiate Athletic Association Golfer of the Week. Roseth was able to perform another eagle on Tuesday, his second of the season.
DAY TWO
On Tuesday, the final round of the Otter Invitational, the Tritons came out to play but could not increase their ranking, ending the day and the invitational at the 16th spot. For the final round, the Tritons shot a 310 (+22). The Tritons ended the invitational with a 920 (+56).
The third and final round ended with Yamaguchi, Amerson and Roseth all tying for the 60th overall position, with a shooting of 229 (+13). Yamaguchi’s ranking dropped drastically in the third round: His 73 in the second round was the lowest by any of the Tritons over the day.
“We have a lot of work to do in order to play at a consistent level,” UCSD Head Coach Jim Ragan told the UCSD Athletics Department. “This week’s results were disappointing, and hopefully we can rebound for our last event of the fall next week.”
Chico State held onto their first place spot from Monday and won the invitational on Tuesday with an 859 (-5). Nova Southeastern, the reigning Otter Invitational champion, fell a couple of strokes behind Chico State placing second with a 863 (-1). The host, Cal State Monterey Bay, placed third place with a 871 (+7).
The Tritons look to finish their fall season at the Dennis Rose Invitational in Hawai’i on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 hosted by the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.
