Team results
Individual results
Long Beach State carded a 31-over-par overall score to finish behind conference foes No. 56 UC Irvine and No. 96 Pacific at the Big West Championships on Tuesday at the 7,052-yard Mission Viejo Country Club.
Irvine took advantage of good playing conditions as it posted a six-shot lead after the first round and never looked back. The Anteaters finished at nine-over for the three rounds to win the team championship.
“The greens were very slick and we had some trouble reading them, which in turn caused us to miss some putts,” LBSU assistant coach Zach Vinal said.
The third-place finish gave LBSU a two-spot improvement from last season’s fifth-place showing.
“A third-place finish isn’t quite what we were hoping for, but we did battle until the end of the tournament and that was good to see,” Vinal said.
The top performances for The Beach included an eighth-place finish from Steve Gibson, who led the 49ers with a six-over-par score after carding rounds of 76, 70 and 76. The senior recorded 10 birdies in three rounds.
Fellow senior Michael Drake tied for 16th place with scores of 77, 71 and 77 to finish at nine-over. Drake tacked on seven birdies in the tournament.
Sophomore Kevin Roy tied for 22nd at 11-over-par and made a team-high 11 birdies. Benjamin Lein grabbed 25th with a 12-over-par and had nine birdies, while Robbie Berton finished at 22-over.
UCI also took the individual title as No. 19-ranked player John Chin posted three under-par rounds of 68, 70 and 71 to finish at seven-under. Chin sank 16 birdies and added an eagle in the tournament to pace five Anteaters in the top 15.
“Hats go off to UC Irvine, they played great all three days and those scores as a team were great,” Vinal said. “John Chin is one remarkable player and it helps when you have a guy seven-under-par for the tournament.
The 49ers will most likely fall short of an NCAA bid as they would have to finish ranked within the top 70 nationally out of 309 teams just to be considered.
The team will add standout recruit Chien Yao (Alan) Hung of Taipei, Taiwan, next season, who is ranked the No. 1 international recruit for the 2010 class, and returns with the 25th-ranked freshman class of 2009.
“I think with the tournament being back at the same course next year, we will have a better understanding of how to attack it and where to pick our spots,” Vinal said. “Overall, we were a little disappointed with not bringing home the hardware, but this was another year of improvement.”
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.