BELLINGHAM, Wash. –
Andy Yoon finished in a tie for first place but missed out on medalist honors in a playoff showdown but the Cal State Dominguez Hills men's golf team combined for a new program-record 857 to finish second at the Western Washington Invitational on Tuesday.
It had been nearly 20 years since the Toros had visited the Bellingham Golf & Country Club, but the 2022 Western Washington Invitational is one the Toros will not forget as a program. After scoring a 284 and 285 on Monday, the Toros dropped a 288 result on their final trek through the 6,610-yard, par-72 course but it was still good enough to shatter the NCAA-era 54-hole program-record 870 set at the Gary Sanders Memorial in 1986.
Starting Tuesday's round sitting in third place, Yoon was near perfect, making four birdies and reaching par 12 times to move into a tie for first with Holy Names' Edvin Backstrom. Backstrom scored a birdie in the par-4 15 hole to beat Yoon for the medal.
Despite missing the medalist honor, the tie for first made Yoon the 13
th player in the program's NCAA era dating back to 1980 to finish atop of the field.
Dominguez Hills started the day in third place trailing first-place Western Washington by eight shots. Though the Toros picked up two strokes, it wasn't enough to catch the eventual-winner Vikings. They did leap over Holy Names, which finished with a 298 in the third round to end its tournament run at 860.
Andres Navarro ended the day making par while
Francis Bautista finished 1-over but did manage to keep himself in the top 20. Same went with
Patrick Ordonez, who shot a 2-over 74 but managed to place in a tie for 16
th.
Joseph Sotelo came up perfect in the front-9 highlighted by an eagle in the par-5 first hole, but had some mistakes in three holes in the back-9 to finish 1-over par.
Competing as independents,
Jesse Peh scored a 75 and
David Cho had a 77 to round out the Toros.
The Toros will take a month off and prepare for a week-long trip to Hawaii starting with Hawai`i Pacific's Shark Shootout at the Leilehua Golf Course in Wahiawa. The first round begins October 25. They will then travel to the Big Island to wrap up the non-championship segment of the 2022-23 season with an annual visit to Hawai`i Hilo's Dennis Rose Invitational. They will tee off that tournament on October 28.
