LA QUINTA, Calif. — Three-time defending champion Long Beach State picked up where they left off in the first round of the 2026 Big West Men’s Golf Championship, putting an aggregate 12-under 276 to jump out to a 14-stroke lead at La Quinta Country Club on Sunday.
The Beach were in the first wave of the tee, lucky to get the majority of the round in before high winds hit the course later in the afternoon. Gusts as high as the 40s were seen in the closing hours of the day as temperatures were expected to fall and more windy conditions are expected overnight.
LBSU’s impressive round is their lowest 5-count-4 score in their last three title-winning seasons. All four countable scores were under-par rounds, led by first-round pacesetter
Steen Zeman who fired off a bogey-free 5-under 67. Two of the three players knotted in second are Beach teammates
Jack Cantlay and
Alejandro De Castro Piera, who both shot 69, tying with
Zhenxian Zhang of the UC Davis at 3-under 69.
Jaden Huggins rounded out LBSU’s countable scores with a first-round 71 as the team rolled in 19 total birdies on the day to gain the advantage.
Cal Poly sits in second place with a team score of 290, at two over par.
Rafael Bobo-Lloret and
Jack Jarvis both posted even-par rounds of 72, helping the team maintain its position with Bobo-Lloret the freshman Frenchman’s round highlighted by an eagle on the 516-yard par-5 fifth hole.
UC San Diego and UC Davis share third place, each with a score of 291 and both with a pair of players in the individual top 10.
Ethan Lien (t-5; 71) and
Nathan Tseng (t-8; 72) are pacing the Tritons with Zhang (t-2; 69) and
Curtis Da Silva (t-8; 72) leading the way for the Aggies to bolster their respective teams’ standings and sit just one stroke back from the Mustangs. The Tritons will join the first wave out of the gates on Moving Day starting at 10 a.m. on Monday.
UC Davis is the lead team in the second wave, paired with Hawai’i and UC Irvine, locked in a tie for fifth and two strokes back from the Aggies at 5-over 293. The trio open the round beginning at 10:50 a.m., with featured players and top 10 competitors
Dane Watanabe of Hawai’i (t-5; 71) and UC Irvine’s
Jason Tang (t-8; 72) taking to the course in the 11:30 a.m. grouping.
Twosomes from UC Santa Barbara (295; +7) and Cal State Fullerton (298; +10) will follow with CSUN (310; +22) and UC Riverside (311; +23) rounding out the second-round pairings.
Long Beach State is chasing a piece of history, looking to become just the third program to win four or more Championship titles in a row. Last year’s three-day record-setting total of 22-under 842 also looks to be in jeopardy. Another eye is on the potential spread as the last double-digit margin of victory came in 2011, an 18-stroke separation when UC Davis claimed victory over Pacific.
Spectators are welcome, and the event is free and open to the public for those in La Quinta, or follow along with online live scoring throughout the event at
scoreboard.clippd.com.