Pacific’s Alex Edfort has been named the 2012 Big West Men’s Golfer of the Year, as selected by the nine league head coaches. Long Beach State collected the other two top awards with Xander Schauffele earning Big West Freshman of the Year and Mickey Yokoi garnering Big West Coach of the Year.
Named Big West Golfer of the Year, Edfort collected four top-five finishes including the title at the Big West Men’s Golf Championship last week in La Quinta, Calif. Edfort led wire-to-wire over the three days of competition to finish 15-under par for his first tournament title and Pacific's first individual Big West championship since Jason Preeo captured medalist honors in 1998. Edfort will continue in postseason play at the Stanford Regional in Stanford, Calif. on May 17-19.
Schauffele claimed freshman of the year with four top-ten finishes this season, while helping the 49ers come back from a seven-shot deficit to claim second place at the 2012 Big West Men’s Golf Championship. The San Diego native, who holds the second-lowest average on the team (72.4), notched his first career victory at the OGIO-UCSB Invitational with a season-low 8-under par finish. (71-69-68--208) Schauffele, a member of the 2012 All-Big West First Team, looks for continued success with his fellow 49ers as they compete in postseason play at the Georgia Regional on May 17-19.
In his first year at the helm of Long Beach State, Mickey Yokoi led his squad to an at-large selection to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship Regionals. In their third overall regional appearance, the 49ers will compete in the Athens Regional at the University of Georgia as a No. 7 seed. Yokoi is the third individual in LBSU history to claim Coach of the Year honors, joining Del Walker and Bob Livingstone. Yokoi coached the 49ers to a school-record five tournament titles in 2011-12 while his players won two individual titles. He also guided the 49ers to a second place finish at the Big West Men’s Golf Championship, the program's highest showing since taking the title in 2004. Long Beach enters regional play ranked 40th in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings and 42nd in Golfstat.
Edfort made his first appearance on the All-Big West First Team list and was joined by Long Beach State’s Kevin Roy, Kevin Lim, and Schauffele, while Allan Jun (UC Irvine), Chris Russo (Cal State Northridge), and Mark Anguiano (Cal State Fullerton) also collected their first recognition.
Big West Men’s Golf Player of the Year
Alex Edfort, Pacific
Big West Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year
Xander Schauffele, Long Beach State
Big West Men’s Golf Coach of the Year
Mickey Yokoi, Long Beach State
First Team All-Big West
Mark Anguiano, Cal State Fullerton
Alex Edfort, Pacific
Allan Jun, UC Irvine
Kevin Lim, Long Beach State
Kevin Roy, Long Beach State
Chris Russo, Cal State Northridge
Xander Schauffele, Long Beach State
Second Team All-Big West
Pete Fernandez, UC Irvine
Matt Hansen, UC Davis
Russell Boring, UC Santa Barbara
Kei Kita, UC Santa Barbara
Honorable Mention All-Big West
Scott Patterson, Cal Poly
Matt Seramin, UC Davis
Paul Otte, UC Santa Barbara