By: James Matthews
In a season that’s growing with promise each tournament, SFU men’s golf continued their upwards trend this week. March 20 and 21 saw the Clan travel to Corona, California to take part in the California Baptist University Invitational. The team finished 27-over-par, good enough for a spot at sixth on the team leaderboard. The Clan appear to be distancing themselves from an ugly 19th-place finish at the Stockton Cactus Thaw in February.
As was the case in last week’s Notre Dame de Namur Invitational, the field shot two rounds on the first day of the tournament. BYU-Hawaii flew home with a first-place finish. They are first team not named California Baptist University to win a tournament in which the Clan appeared in this spring.
For the Clan, Kevin Vigna paced the team in day one He paired a season-low one-under-71 with a second round 75 on day one. His two-over scorecard had him 11th on the individual leaderboard, the highest finish of any Clan teammate. Those teammates all finished with scores in the mid to high 70s. This consistency was vital for the Clan to stay in contention at seventh place on the team leaderboard.
“Everyone contributed and all five players showed up on the leaderboard,” said coach Matt Steinbach. “We stayed calm, we stayed patient, and overall, we did a really good job.”
By all accounts, however, it was an uncharacteristic first day from Chris Crisologo. This made day two even more memorable as the junior signed off on the tournament’s best scorecard. Crisologo’s four-under-68 put him into a tie for the individual clubhouse lead for the day.
“When you can manage a tougher round and keep it under control that’s the sign of a great golfer. In day two, he had that look in his eye, and we could all tell he was going to have a great day.”
Also of note was Craig Titterington. He responded from dual seven-over (79) rounds in day one with a team-second-best one-over (73). “It’s a difficult course and he had played well the day before, but he played a very solid round.”
Next tournament: The Clan must pay close attention to their map as for the first time this spring, the team will play in a tournament outside of California. Instead, it will be Idaho where the Clan tees off with day one of the Northwest Nazarene Invitational set for March 27 in Nampa.
