By Chandler Harris, Assistant Sports Editor
The golf team finished in sixth place overall at the SoCal Intercollegiate tournament in Mission Viejo, Calif., on March 9-10. Sophomore Cyril Bouniol led the Wildcats by finishing in second place individually. The teams played 36 holes on day one and 18 holes on day two of the tournament hosted by the University of California-San Diego.
“It was a real strong field, and a lot of the top teams in the nation were there,” said Mike Campbell, head golf coach. “I guess you could say we did alright but not as well as we wanted to. The course we played was the most difficult course I have ever taken a team to. The scores overall were higher than normal but that was for everyone, not just us.”
Bouniol began the two-day tournament strong by firing a team tournament-low of 72. He followed that with a 74 and 79 in his final two rounds of the tournament for a total score 225, just six shots behind the winner, Matt Edwald of Washburn University.
“In a tournament like that with a quality field like we had in a tournament in California, it is quite an accomplishment,” Campbell said. “He played really well and he has continued to do well for us. He has been a solid player for us all year long”
Bouniol has finished in the top 10 in six of seven tournaments this season. He also has placed in the top five in five of those tournaments.
Senior Patrick Hanuer finished in 27th place with a score of 237 (81-76-80). Senior Hilton Funk finished in 31st place, just one shot behind Hanauer with a 238 (76-80-82). Freshman Zach Sadau improved his score on each round, shooting 82-81-79 to place 44th with a total score of 242. Sophomore Jose Gutierrez rounded out the Wildcats’ scores with a 251 (85-82-84) to place 62nd overall.
The team as a whole shot a combined 311-311-320 for a three round total of 942, 30 strokes behind the winning school CSU-San Bernardino, which shot a 912 (304-310-298). The final round total of 298 shot by CSU-San Bernardino was the only round under 300 strokes by any of 15 schools in the tournament.
The team begins qualifying Friday for the Dallas Baptist Patriot Classic, which the team will compete in March 30-31.
“There will be a lot of teams from our region there,” Campbell said. “Also, Sonoma State will be there, and they are ranked in the top 10 in the nation. We need a really good tournament against our regions teams to secure a spot in the region tournament. This will be a really important tournament for us.”
