LA JOLLA, Calif. - Hosting its annual UC San Diego Invitational for the first time at Torrey Pines, the Tritons' men's golf team placed ninth and two players finished among the top-15 as the tournament concluded Tuesday.
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TRITON RESULTS
T-11.
Davis McDowell, -6 (68-70-72--210)
T-14.
Elliot Bunyaviroch, -5 (70-68-73--211)
T-33.
Kyle Dougherty, -1 (70-65-80--215)*
T-37.
Nathan Tseng, E (72-71-73--216)
T-45.
Calvin Kong, +1 (74-71-72--217)*
T-58.
Davis Lee, +3 (73-72-74--219)*
T-69.
Jerry Wu, +6 (81-73-68--222)
T-73.
Ethan Chen, +7Â (74-73-76--223)
* playing as an individual
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego posted an 852 to go 12-under par over 54 holes of play. Monday, the Tritons turned in rounds of 284 and 282 before finishing with a 286 in Tuesday's third and final round.
Topping the 15-team field was Oklahoma Christian, the third-ranked squad in NCAA Division II. The Eagles finished 32-under par with an 832 after rounds of 280, 276, and 276.
Seattle U. was the runner-up, just two strokes behind OCU. CSUNÂ took third with its 25-under performance.
The individual medalist was CSUN's Eirick Thomassen. He fired three sub-70 rounds (68-63-65) to log a 196, 20-under par. His 63 was the low round of the tourney.
For UC San Diego,
Davis McDowell was the top finisher, tying for 11th with a six-under 210. McDowell has been the Tritons' highest placer in five of seven events so far this season.
Elliot Bunyaviroch was close behind, tying for 14th with a five-under 211. Both Tritons had a round of 68.
Kyle Dougherty fired a 65 in the second round, the best by any Triton.
Thirty-six players ended the event under par. Eight concluded at even par and 39 were over par.
Twelve of the 15 teams in contention finished under par. The par-72, 7,258-yard North Course at Torrey Pines played to a 72.48 stroke average Tuesday, the highest of the event. The first round came in at 71.89 while the second round held a 71.73 stroke average. Over the three rounds, the course averaged a 72.04.
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WHAT HEAD COACH FRED HANOVER HAD TO SAY
"It was great to host a tournament at the world famous Torrey Pines Golf Course. Teams came to the tournament from all over the country to play there. We had spectacular weather and some really fine scoring. Eirik Thomassen of CSUNÂ shot 20-under par over three rounds and won by six strokes. That's great playing. Oklahoma Christian, a top-five NCAA Division II team, shot 32-under to capture the team title.
For us,
Davis McDowell continued his fine play this season, shooting six-under par and finishing tied for 11th.
Kyle Dougherty shot our low round of the event with a 65 in round two, while
Jerry Wu and
Elliot Bunyaviroch each posted a round of 68.
The condition of the course were very good, so teams shot low scores. We just didn't enough low scores to keep up with the leaders.
It was a very good learning experience that should help us over the next few weeks with an event in Washington state as well as at UC Santa Barbara."
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TRITON TIDBITS
• This is the first time the UC San Diego Invitational has been held at Torrey Pines.
• The tournament took place at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif., in 2021 and 2022.
• The field had teams from California, Florida, Hawai'i, Oklahoma, Utah, and Washington.
• There were six Big West teams in the field including CSUN, Hawai'i, Pennsylvania, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara. The Tritons finished ahead of Hawai'i and UC Riverside.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego heads to Washington to compete at the Redhawk Invitational, hosted by Seattle U. The tournament is scheduled for April 3-4 at Chambers Bay in University Place.
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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.
