The Long Beach State men’s golf team will begin the spring season on Valentine’s Day when it hosts the Battle of the Beach tournament.
The three-day tournament, co-hosted with UCLA, will be played at the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast, Calif. LBSU head coach Bill Poutre said he is excited about facing a stellar field that includes No. 3 Washington, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 12 Arizona State and No. 15 UCLA, among others.
“This tournament is a true premier event,” he said. “The course is beautiful with ocean views from every hole, and we feel very comfortable playing here.”
The 49ers look to place high in this tournament, and winning it would make a serious statement about their up-and-coming program.
Poutre, along with assistant coach Zach Vinal, have been at LBSU since 2008 and the team has improved 50 spots in the national team rankings during that time.
After arriving at The Beach, the coaches wanted to change the culture of the team.
“We wanted everyone on the same page,” Vinal said. “This is a team deal, not an individual show. Normally in golf, it’s pure individual but the NCAA is a team setting.”
This season, the 49ers have a goal of making the NCAA Tournament. They can accomplish this through one of two ways: gaining the automatic bid by winning the Big West Conference, or securing an at-large spot by finishing in the top 65 in the final national team rankings.
“We are ranked 111 out of 300 schools and we expect to jump up higher and are certainly capable,” Poutre said.
LBSU comes into the spring season led by senior Michael Drake, the school’s career stroke average leader.
“Michael has stepped-up, matured, taken on a bigger role and has played like it too,” Vinal said.
The 49ers also have senior Steve Gibson, No. 4 all-time in career stroke average, and sophomore Kevin Roy who’s 12th on the Beach all-time list.
Equally impressive are the newcomers. The 49ers’ freshman class includes high school standouts Raymond Ho, Benjamin Lein and Philip Chian. The roster also features senior Robert Burton, a transfer from Hawaii.
“We have a tremendous balance of seniors and younger guys, and our overall depth is outstanding,” Poutre said.
Reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Kevin Lim will redshirt the upcoming season to make way for the newcomers, saving him one year of eligibility.
UC Davis and UC Irvine appear to be LBSU’s biggest challengers in the Big West race, but the conference is so deep that no team can be counted out. Golf Week ranked the Big West eighth out of 30 conferences in the country, showing that the conference is a legitimate force in collegiate golf.
“The year before we got here, Long Beach was eighth, dead last in conference,” Poutre said. “Our first year, we went up to fifth. This year, we expect at least top 3.
“We are confident we can make a serious run. There are two things, competing well and winning, and we need to win.”
PGA player and Beach alumni John Mallinger purchased the team’s uniforms this season. The uniforms come from the Travis Mathew clothing line, one of the tournament’s sponsors.
For more information on the tournament visit BattleAtTheBeach.org