Posted: Apr 30, 2013
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men's golf team claimed a share of the Big West Championship with Pacific after shooting an overall team score of 23-over par (887) to close out the 2013 Big West Championships at The Soboba Springs Country Club in San Jacinto, Calif., on Tuesday afternoon.
The Titans, a program reinstated in 2009, claims its first conference championship in school history. The Tigers clinched the automatic NCAA berth after winning a one-hole playoff by two strokes. Pacific's Eric Sugimoto claims the individual title after winning a two-hole playoff over Cal State Fullerton junior Corey Gard and UC Santa Barbara's Brett Silvernail.
Entering the day in second place behind the Tigers, the Titans shot a 296 (+8) on Tuesday to force a playoff. Starting the day four strokes ahead of Fullerton, the Tigers shot a 300 (+12) in the final round. In the playoff, the Tigers won by two strokes to claim the automatic berth.
Entering the day in second place behind the Tigers, the Titans shot a 296 (+8) on Tuesday to force a playoff. Starting the day four strokes ahead of Fullerton, the Tigers shot a 300 (+12) in the final round. In the playoff, the Tigers won by two strokes to claim the automatic berth.
Beginning the day as the individual leader, Gard slipped in the final round shooting a 5-over par 77. The Villa Park, Calif., native finished the tournament at 1-over with an overall score of 217. Suigomoto shot a 74 (+2) and Silvernail shot a final-round 69 (-3) to force a three-player playoff. After one playoff hole, Suigomoto and Gard were left standing, but Suigomoto took the individual honor after Gard missed a putt that would have forced a third playoff hole.
Three other Titans finished in the top 25 including sophomore Ryan Tetrault who jumped nine spots to fourth place after starting the day tied for 13th. Tetrault shot a 2-under par 70 in the final round to finish with an overall score of 218 (+2). Junior Mark Anguiano shot a final round 73 (+1) to finish with an overall score of 223 and a tie for 13th place.
Senior Dakota Duerr shot a final round 76 (+4) to finish tied for 25th. Duerr finished 13-over par (229) after shooting a first round 76 and second round 77. Josh Park shot a final round 79 (+7) to finish with an overall score of 235 (+19) and a tie for 39th place.
Pacific earns the automatic berth for the NCAA Championships and Fullerton will learn if it has clinched an at-large berth when the NCAA announces the entire championship field on Monday at 6 p.m. The field will be released at the following link http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2013-03-17/2013-spring-championships-selections