COTO de CAZA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's golf team finished seventh and
Davis McDowell placed 11th Tuesday at the Orange County Collegiate Classic.
The two-day, 54-hole, 10-team event was played at Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club with UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton serving as co-hosts.
It was the first tournament of 2022 for the Tritons.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego finished 50-over par with a 914. The Tritons shot a 303 in the third round to go along with a 307 in the opening round and a 304 in the second round on Monday. They were in fifth after two rounds.
McDowell, a redshirt freshman, finished 6-over par with a 222. He carded rounds of 70, 77, and 75. McDowell was tied for seventh place in the 63-player field after Monday's two rounds.
Also playing for the Tritons were junior
Elliot Bunyaviroch (tied for 25th, 80-74-74--228, +12), freshman
Francis Catalano (tied for 29th, 75-78-76--229, +13), senior
Ryan Vaughan (51st, 86-75-78--239, +23), and senior
Sergi Mata (52nd, 82-81-78--241, +25). In addition, senior
Ethan Chen (tied for 39th, 81-74-79--234, +18) played as an individual and his scores did not count towards the team's totals.
Mata picked up an eagle in round one for the Tritons, taking a three on the par-5 sixth hole.
Cal State Fullerton took the team title with an 881, 17-over on the par-72, 6,950-yard layout. The Titans recorded rounds of 298, 290, and 293. UC Irvine (304-284-298--886, +22) was five strokes behind in second place and Cal Poly (301-294-293--888, +24) took third, seven strokes back of Cal State Fullerton.
UC Irvine's Kolbe Irei was the individual medalist. He fired rounds of 75, 68, and 73 for an even par 216. Nathan Cogswell and Jack Rahon of Seattle University tied for second, three strokes behind Irei.
The Coto de Caza South Course played to a 77.1 stroke average. Wind made for challenging conditions in the first round as the field posted a 78.83 average score.
Seven teams out of the Big West Conference played in the tournament including Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara. California Baptist, Central Arkansas, and Seattle rounded out the field.
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UP NEXT
The Tritons are off until Feb. 21-22 when they take part in The Joust. California Baptist is hosting the tournament at Goose Creek in Jurupa Valley, Calif.
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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 II and III 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.
