Twelve teams are set to tee off in the desert as the 2025 Big West Men’s Golf Championship gets underway Sunday at the La Quinta Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif. With an automatic NCAA Championship berth on the line, expect three days of intense competition over the par-72, 7,060-yard layout with an expanded field.
This year, along with the nine squads who took to the course in previous iterations of The Big West Championship at La Quinta, three new teams will tee off for the title: fully-eligible UC San Diego and affiliate members Idaho and Sacramento State join the fray from the desert.
The Favorites
Top-seeded Long Beach State enters the championship as the team to beat, ranked No. 22 nationally and riding a dominant season. The Beach finished inside the top five in eight events this season, including a course-blistering victory at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic March 30-April 1 to close out the regular-season slate. The Beach are seeking their fourth title in the last four years the event has been held at Quinta (2021, ’23, ’24).
Individual event winner at the Cowboy Classic, senior Charlie Forster leads the LBSU team and enters the postseason ranked 31st in the nation. Last season at The Big West Championship, the native of Winchester, England finished in a tie for eighth last season.
Contenders for the individual crown include many in the field, headlined by the top four finishers from a season ago in medalist Tegan Andrews of Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State’s Clay Seeber, Rei Harashima of UC Irvine, and Cal Poly’s Baron Szeto to name just a few of the top players set to take the course.
Poised to be in the mix come Tuesday afternoon are some student-athletes playing prime golf in 2024-25, rewarded by the individual rankings. LBSU’s Alejandro De Castro comes in at No. 62 in the listings with Szeto (No. 82) and Seeber (No. 158) cracking the individual Top 200.
The Pairings
The first-round pairings see Long Beach State set up with Cal Poly and UC Irvine as the first three off the tee beginning at 10 a.m. Making their first championship appearances, UC San Diego and Sacramento State are coupled with UC Riverside on Day 1 and will go off starting at 10:50 a.m. The 7-8-9 grouping will feature players from Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis and Idaho beginning at 11:40 a.m., with the final three teams of Hawai’i, UC Santa Barbara and CSUN paired off to start at 12:30 p.m.
Teams will be re-paired after 18 holes and again starting at 10 a.m. on Monday with the Championship round slated for an 8 a.m. start as squads open on both the first and 10th holes in a race to the finish.
The Course
La Quinta Country Club is no stranger to championship golf, hosting PGA Tour events for decades. Players will need to navigate generous fairways but stay sharp on approach shots, with fast, undulating greens ready to punish any mistakes. Winds can become a factor, adding another layer of difficulty as the leaderboard begins to tighten.
Looking Ahead
The Big West’s team champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals at six sites around the country from May 12-14, while standout individual performers could also secure at-large selections.
Teams and players who advance through the regional round will converge in Big West Territory for the 2025 Division I Men’s Golf Championships tet to be contested for the second straight season at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., from May 23-28. 16-21.
For Long Beach State, The Big West Championship and ensuing national postseason serves as a chance to cement a historic season. For the rest of the field, it’s the opportunity to turn three magical days into a season-defining moment.
The road to the NCAA Championship starts now — and it runs through La Quinta.
Stay Connected
Spectators are welcome, and the event is free and open to the public. Live scoring will be available throughout the event via scoreboard.clippd.com. Fans can follow The Big West on social media at @bigwestsports for real-time updates, catch nightly highlights on YouTube and find additional coverage from La Quinta Golf and Country Club at bigwest.org.