Cal Poly Opens Season With Home Tournament
A total of 12 men's teams and seven women's squads will compete in the fourth annual Firestone Grill Cal Poly Invitational on Sunday and Monday at the Monarch Dunes Golf Club in Nipomo. In addition to Cal Poly (which will field two squads), other men's teams in the field this year are Cal State Fullerton, La Verne, Seattle, Utah Valley, Cal State Northridge, Cal Lutheran, UC Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield, Long Beach State and UCLA's "B" team. The women's field includes the Mustangs, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Lutheran, Seattle, Cal State Northridge, Santa Clara and UC Riverside.
Cal Poly's "B" team won the men's team title a year ago while the Mustang women finished fifth. Cal State Northridge claimed the women's team title in 2010. Both individual champions -- Mario Clemens of UCLA and Kylie Kimura of Cal State Northridge -- return to defend their titles.
Teams will tee off with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, with the second round to follow. Final round is scheduled for Monday with split tee times starting at 7:30 a.m. The course measures 6,810 yards for men and 5,902 yards for women. Both are par 71.
Matadors Host Bill Cullum Invitational
The Cal State Northridge men's team is set to host its first event of the year, the Bill Cullum Invitational, on Oct. 17-18. Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley will be the course for the 54-hole tournament. Big West schools joining the Matadors are Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara.
Rain, Rain Go Away: A handful of Big West men's golf programs were unable to get the 2011-12 season underway in September due to Mother Nature, who rained out the Kikkor Husky Invitational. Long Beach State, UC Davis and Pacific will now begin their season in October.
Make Way For The Aggies
The UC Davis women's golf team opened the year with a first and second place finish in its first two tournaments of the season. The Aggies' success at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic and the Golfweek Conference Challenge propelled them to a 19th-place ranking in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings. UC Davis is the lone Big West representative in the nationally poll.
Russo, Runas Collect First Big West Honor Of The Season
Cal State Northridge's Chris Russo and UC Davis' Demi Runas won individual titles in their respective events in the month of September to earn Big West Men's and Women's Golfer of the Month honors.
Russo fired three consecutive sub-par rounds (68-69-70) to post his first collegiate win at the St. Mary's Invitational at the Bayonet and Blackhorse courses. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., natives three-round score of nine-under-par 207 is a career low and was Russo's fourth Top 10 finish.
Runas, began the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic tying a school record with a score of 66 in the first round. The junior from Torrance, Calif., concluded the three-round event with a five-under-par 211 total to earn her first collegiate win by three strokes. She also guided the Aggies to a first place team finish.
In UC Davis' second tournament of the month, Golfweek Conference Challenge, Runas finished second among the Aggies with a score of 224. Her efforts assisted UC Davis in capturing a second place finish in the elite event.
Others nominated: Men - Robbie Mamo (UC Riverside) Women - Rochelle Chan (Long Beach State), Lalita Patipaksiri (UC Irvine).