The Cougars Online -- Cal State San Marcos Athletics

Great Opening Day for Men's Golf at Concordia Invite, But Team Can't Hold Lead
October 11, 2006

A fantastic day one had expectations sky-high for the men’s golf team, but the squad couldn’t keep the momentum up, finishing fourth out of five teams at the Concordia University Invite. Senior Scott Conway led the Cougars with his second-straight fifth place finish.

The three-day tournament, which was played at Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach, marked the second event of the Fall season for the team. On Monday, the squad got off to an unbelievable start. Sophomore Kyle Anderson led the charge, posting an out-of-this-world round of 65 on the par-72 course. Anderson was the only golfer to break 70 on the first day, and his round ended up being 4 shots clear of the next best in the entire tournament.

Though his performance was especially stellar, Anderson wasn’t the only Cougar to have a good day. Scott Conway and Arek Legarra posted solid rounds of 73, and Kyle Kelch and Mike Leonard shot 75. By the end of round one, Cal State San Marcos’ team score of 286 gave them a healthy 8-shot lead over the field.

Unfortunately, while the Cougars’ first round was the best of the tournament by any team, their second was the worst. All five golfers scored higher than in the previous day, including Anderson following up his 65 with a disappointing 80. As a team, the Cougars’ took 28 more strokes to get around the course in the second round, shooting 314.

Day three proved a little better, but CSUSM’s score of 307 was not enough to get them back in contention. Scott Conway was able to turn it around through, matching his first round score of 73. His combined score of 223 earned him a tie for fifth in the tournament.

The team ended up in fourth, 18 strokes behind winners Point Loma Nazarene. PLNU won the tournament by just one stroke over Concordia University, and finished 4 ahead of Cal Baptist. The Cougars did manage to finish ahead of CSU East Bay by 11 strokes.

Despite the disappointment of losing the lead, the men’s team should continue to improve throughout the fall and turn into a major contender by spring. Helping the cause will be the returns of Casey Sartori, Clint McCook, and Matthew Determan, who are all expected to be playing either later this fall or in the spring.

The team will next be in action on October 22nd, at the Sonoma State. It is one of two tournaments remaining in the fall schedule, after which the squad will not compete until February.