There would be no cliffhanger to this year’s Big West Men’s Golf Championship. UC Riverside made sure of that. The Highlanders stayed below par for the first two rounds for a 14-stroke lead over the rest of the field entering the final round at Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. And by day’s end on Tuesday, UC Riverside had more than adequately sidestepped a repeat of last year’s tie with Long Beach State that left the Highlanders and the 49ers as co-champions. For their 2005 run through the tournament, the UC Riverside men added a 1-under 287 on the final round and locked away sole possession of the Big West title with a final total of 852.
Cal Poly’s Travis Bertoni also managed to pad his one-stroke lead over UC Riverside’s Brandon Hillpot to two slim strokes to claim his first Big West individual title with a 207. The pair was grouped with UC Santa Barbara’s Michael Feuerstein on the final day, and the threesome pushed each other to medal honors. Behind Bertoni’s winning 207, Hillpot finished second at 209, and Feuerstein took third at 212. Long Beach State’s Brett Lederer finished even with UC Riverside’s Spencer Paschall at 213 for fourth place in the individual race. In all, three Highlanders placed in the top 10, with Eric Riehle claiming sixth for the winning squad. Cal Poly’s top-10 finishers behind individual champ Bertoni were Casey Strohsahl (7th, 215) and J.J. Scurich (t-8th, 216).
Bertoni and his Mustang teammates combined forces on the final day to give Cal Poly the lowest team score of the round and push the Mustangs to a solid hold on second place with a final score of 860— comfortably ahead of the tangle at third place between Idaho and UC Irvine at 875. The Vandals had powered back from sixth place after the first day by shooting a 4-under 244 on the last round. UC Irvine had broken out of its first-day tie with Long Beach State after a 291 that leveled the Anteaters at 875 for third with Idaho to finish things off at the tourney. Meanwhile, the 49ers shot its third straight 292 to finish at 876 and leapfrog UC Santa Barbara (877) by a stroke to claim fifth place overall. Pacific was next in the race at 882 for sixth; Utah State finished eighth at 885; and Cal State Northridge was ninth at 900.
FINAL RESULTS
ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
Player of the Year
Travis Bertoni, Cal Poly
Freshman of the Year
J. J. Scurich, Cal Poly
Coach of the Year
Paul Hjulberg, UC Riverside
First Team
Brandon Hillpot, UC Riverside
Eric Riehle, UC Riverside
Garrett Sapp, UC Irvine
J.J. Scurich, Cal Poly
Brendan Steele, UC Riverside
Travis Bertoni, Cal Poly
Second Team
Pete Williams, Idaho
Christian Akau, Idaho
Greg Wells, UC Santa Barbara
Brian Edick, UC Irvine
Jeremy Keller, Long Beach State
Matt Kern, Pacific
Honorable Mention
Jay Choe, UC Irvine
Michael Feuerstein, UC Santa Barbara
Brett Lederer, Long Beach State
Doug Miller, Cal State Northridge
Ryan Panichpakdee, Long Beach State
Spencer Paschall, UC Riverside
Big West Men's Championship
Tijeras Creek G.C. Rnc. Snt. Marg.
FINAL RESULTS (Date Posted: 04-26-2005)
Par: 72
Yardage: 6918
Fin Team Scores
1 UC - Riverside 284 281 287 852 -12
2 Cal Poly 287 292 281 860 -4
3 Idaho, Univ. of 299 292 284 875 +11
UC-Irvine 304 280 291 875 +11
5 Long Beach State 292 292 292 876 +12
6 UC-Santa Barbara 279 302 296 877 +13
7 Pacific, U. of the 295 298 289 882 +18
8 Utah State Univ. 288 304 293 885 +21
9 CSU-Northridge 306 299 295 900 +36
Fin Name School Scores
1 Travis Bertoni Cal Poly 66 71 70 207 -9
2 Brandon Hillpot UC-Rvrside 69 69 71 209 -7
3 Michael Feuerstein UC-SaBarba 67 74 71 212 -4
4 Spencer Paschall UC-Rvrside 71 72 70 213 -3
Brett Lederer Long Beach 73 66 74 213 -3
6 Eric Riehle UC-Rvrside 71 70 73 214 -2
7 Casey Strohsahl Cal Poly 76 70 69 215 -1
8 Pete Williams Idaho 71 74 71 216 E
J.J. Scurich Cal Poly 73 75 68 216 E
Brian Edick UC-Irvine 74 70 72 216 E
Preston Otte Utah State 72 70 74 216 E
12 Brendan Steele UC-Rvrside 74 70 73 217 +1
Kenny Kim UC-Irvine 77 69 71 217 +1
14 Matt Kern Pacific 77 72 69 218 +2
Gabriel Wilson Idaho 76 71 71 218 +2
16 Brett Black Utah State 72 75 72 219 +3
Garrett Sapp UC-Irvine 73 71 75 219 +3
Christian Akau Idaho 77 73 69 219 +3
Darren Schwartz UC-SaBarba 68 76 75 219 +3
20 Jeremy Keller Long Beach 72 74 74 220 +4
Ryan Panichpakdee Long Beach 72 77 71 220 +4
Gordon Curtius Pacific 74 74 72 220 +4
23 Brendon Ehlers Utah State 71 79 71 221 +5
Chris Rosenau Pacific 70 78 73 221 +5
25 Bill Witte Idaho 75 74 73 222 +6
26 Doug Miller CSUN 75 76 72 223 +7
Jay Choe UC-Irvine 80 70 73 223 +7
Brycen Wagner Cal Poly 73 76 74 223 +7
29 Nick Telliard UC-SaBarba 76 76 72 224 +8
30 Ryan Wood Long Beach 76 76 73 225 +9
Cameron Nelson UC-Rvrside 73 77 75 225 +9
32 Joe Ryon UC-SaBarba 72 76 78 226 +10
Chris Pederson CSUN 74 76 76 226 +10
34 James Driscoll CSUN 78 78 72 228 +12
35 Amrit Nat CSUN 79 72 79 230 +14
James Logeman Long Beach 75 76 79 230 +14
37 Reid Scarff Pacific 82 74 75 231 +15
Colin Peck Cal Poly 75 78 78 231 +15
39 Amit Nat CSUN 82 75 75 232 +16
Cody Huot Utah State 73 81 78 232 +16
Jared Humphries Utah State 76 80 76 232 +16
42 Jason Huff Idaho 83 74 77 234 +18
43 Greg Wells UC-SaBarba 72 82 84 238 +22
44 Andrew Bostrom Pacific 74 79 86 239 +23
45 Ryne Rindfleisch UC-Irvine 80 81 79 240 +24