VALENCIA, Calif. - A seven-stroke improvement in Monday's second round helped the UC San Diego men's golf team finish the day in fifth at the Bill Cullum Invitational at The Oaks Club in Valencia.

Three Tritons sit among the top-10 after 36 holes of play.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After shooting a 293 in the opening round, the Tritons came back to card a 286 for a total of 579, 3-over par on the par-72, 7,110-yard course.

Among the top-10 in the individual standings are Jared Gross (tied for seventh), Elliot Bunyaviroch (tied for 10th), and Davis McDowell (tied for 10th). Gross fired a team-best 68 in the second 18 after shooting 74 in the first. McDowell shot a 69 in his second round after posting a 74 in the first. 

Gross shot up the leader board 28 positions after his second round, while McDowell improved by 23 spots after his second round.

Making his collegiate debut, freshman Calvin Kong is among the top-20 at even par. He had rounds of 70 and 74.

Kong is one of three Tritons playing as an individual and not factoring in the team scoring.   

TRITON RESULTS
T-7. Jared Gross, -2 (74-68--142)
T-10. Elliot Bunyaviroch, -1 (71-72--143)
T-10. Davis McDowell, -1 (74-69--143)
T-46. Jerry Wu, +7 (74-77--151)
T-50. Nathan Tseng, +8 (75-77--152)
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T-16. Calvin Kong, E (70-74--144)
T-31. Ethan Chen, +3 (75-72--147)
T-56. Davis Lee, +11 (80-75--155)

THE LEADERS
CSUN, host of the tournament and reigning champion, heads into Tuesday's third and final round leading the 10-team field. The Matadors are 13-under par with a 563 after recording rounds of 283 and 280.

UC Irvine is in second place, four strokes back of CSUN. Hawaii owns the third spot, six strokes out of first. 

CSUN, UC Irvine, and Hawaii were the lone teams to finish under par Monday.

Rei Harashima of UC Irvine is atop the individual standings at 7-under par. He is just a single stroke ahead of CSUN's Felix Schrott and fellow Anteater Darien Zhao.

Fifteen of 67 players finished under par. 

TRITON TIDBITS
• This is the 26th running of the tournament, which has been held every year since 1996.
• UC San Diego also played in the Bill Cullum Invitational in 2021 (tied for fifth of 12) and 2019 (ninth of 13).
• Davis McDowell was the top Triton finisher last year, placing fourth of 79 players.

UP NEXT
The third and final round tees off Tuesday at 8 a.m. All action can be followed with live scoring.

Following the Cullum Invitational, UC San Diego will next be in action Oct. 20-22 at the Visit Stockton Invitational at Stockton Golf & Country Club. It will be the team's final outing of the fall season.

The winter/spring season opens Feb. 13-14 at the Orange County Collegiate Classic at Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club.

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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.