SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Four Tritons finished among the top-10 as UC San Diego placed third at the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Tuesday at Sandpiper Golf Club.
UC San Diego finished with a 13-over par 589 to take third in the 12-team field.
Davis McDowell placed second while
Davis Lee and
Jerry Wu tied for third and
Calvin Kong tied for seventh in the 66-player event.
The tournament was reduced to two rounds instead of the usual three due to fog delays on the coast. After a late start to Monday's opening round, also because of fog, the teams got through about half of the second round before it was suspended until Tuesday.
The par-72 Sandpiper course played at 7,071 yards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego shot rounds of 300 (+12) and 289 (+1) to finish seven strokes behind tournament winner Utah Valley (292-290--582, +6) and three strokes back of second-place CSUN (285-301--586, +10).
McDowell, a sophomore, posted rounds of 74 and 68, ending his outing as one of just two players to finish under-par with a two-under 142. His 68 was the low round for the Tritons over the 36 holes.
Juniors Lee and Wu, who were competing as individuals and did not figure in the team's scoring, were one-over, both coming in with a 145. Wu had rounds of 76 and 69, while Lee shot 70-75. Kong, a freshman, had a two-over 146 after carding rounds of 72 and 74.
Rounding out the team scorers for UC San Diego, sophomore
Kyle Dougherty (80-72--152, +8) finished in a tie for 23rd, senior
Elliot Bunyaviroch (78-75--0153, +9) tied for 29th, and freshman
Nathan Tseng (76-81--157, +13) tied for 44th.
Senior
Ethan Chen (79-77--156, +12), playing as an individual, tied for 39th.
CSUN's Nick Fowlkes was the tournament winner at seven-under par (66-71--137). His 66 in the first round was the best by any player.
Over the two rounds, UC San Diego recorded 29 birdies, tied with Utah Valley and CSUNÂ for the most during the tournament. Wu holed nine birdies, tied for first with Fowlkes. McDowell, Bunyaviroch, and Wu all finished even on par-three holes, the best in the field.
The average score at Sandpiper was 77.55.
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TRITON RESULTS
2.
Davis McDowell (74-68--142, -2)
T3.
Davis Lee (70-75--145, +1)*
T3.
Jerry Wu (76-69--145, +1)*
T7.
Calvin Kong (72-74--146, +2)
T23.
Kyle Dougherty (80-72--152, +8)
T29.
Elliot Bunyaviroch (78-75--153, +9)
T39.
Ethan Chen (79-77--156, 12)*
T44.
Nathan Tseng (76-81--157, +13)
* playing as an individual
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TRITON TIDBITS
• The finishes for
Davis Lee (tie for 3rd),
Jerry Wu (tie for 3rd), and
Calvin Kong (tie for 7th) are all career-bests.
•
Davis McDowell has been the Tritons' top finisher in six of nine tournaments this season.
• It was the fourth time that the Tritons played in the event. They placed fourth in 2019, seventh in 2021, and eighth in 2022.
• There were four Big West schools represented including CSUN, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara.
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NEXT UP
UC San Diego heads to the El Macero Classic, hosted by UC Davis, April 14-16 at El Macero Country 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.
