Feb. 7, 2012

City of Industry - The Automobile Club of Southern California returns for a second year as the presenting sponsor of the Folino Invitational to be held on Feb. 18-21 at the 36-hole Industry Hills Golf Club in support of Cal State Fullerton intercollegiate golf.

"We're thrilled that the Auto Club has agreed to remain our partner for this second annual event," said Director of Athletics Brian Quinn. "We again feel most fortunate to have a sponsor of such high visibility -- theirs is a household name. Obviously, they were pleased with their involvement in 2011."

The Auto Club was honored with the Titan Award in 2010 for service to the university and has been a major supporter of the Mihaylo College of Business and its Center for Insurance Studies.

Twelve women's teams and 10 men's teams will compete over 54 holes Sunday through Tuesday in conjunction with a fund-raising amateur tournament for 25 foursomes of corporate sponsors and invited guests. The tournament is named for philanthropist Paul Folino, executive chairman of Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corporation and the primary benefactor behind the return of intercollegiate golf to CSF in 2009-10 after a hiatus of more than two decades.

"Our goal is to put on one of the most prestigious tournaments in Southern California and the Auto Club's support only enhances the experience for these fine, young golfers," said Quinn. "We are out to showcase our renewed golf programs and this event is a marvelous opportunity for the local golf community. Our inaugural event last year at Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine was a great success despite some uncooperative weather."

The amateur event will be held on Saturday (Feb. 18) while the collegians are playing practice rounds. The men's teams will play 18 holes each day on the Eisenhower ("Ike") course and the women will simultaneously play the same format on the Babe Zaharias ("Babe") course.

Both the men's and women's teams from Cal Poly, Long Beach State, Sacramento State, UC Riverside and CSU Bakersfield will compete. The other men's teams are Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, UC Santa Barbara and Oakland. Rounding out the women's field are Gonzaga, Cal State Northridge, South Alabama, Seattle, Montana and Eastern Washington.

The Pacific Palms Conference Resort on the same property will serve as headquarters hotel. There will be a welcome banquet on Saturday and an awards ceremony and barbecue on Tuesday evening.

The Folino Invitational is the Titan women's team's first competition of the Spring portion of their schedule. The men open Spring competition this weekend at the Pat Hicks Invitational in Cedar City, Utah. Both programs are funded by private contributions spearheaded by Folino, who is a member of the Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation Board of Directors.

Both the men and women captured their inaugural tournament championships in October at the Firestone Grill Invitational in Nipomo, California. The men bested a field of 10 teams while the women topped a field of seven schools.

Fullerton previously dropped men's golf after the 1987-88 season and women's golf was eliminated after 1985-86. Both programs were successful at the College Division level in the 1960s and early 1970s. The men placed seventh in the NCAA championships in 1966 and Paul Wise was the individual champion in 1973. The women placed third in the nation in 1972.