May 3, 2015
Tucson, Ariz. --- After a couple of holes in the first two rounds held him back from really going low, San José State's Cody Blick came out firing on all cylinders in Sunday's final round of the 2015 Mountain West Men's Golf Championship, and carded a five-under-par 66.
Blick's hot start included three birdies in a row on holes 3-5, and another on the eighth to go -4 on the front side. The par-four 13th hole seemed to be Blick's nemesis in the first two rounds, but Sunday he birdied it. His sixth birdie of the day came on the par-three 17th, which dropped him to -5 where he would finish.
He ended up in a tie for ninth place at -3 for the tournament, shooting 73-71-66-210. It is the highest finish for the junior from Danville, Calif., in a conference championship.
"Cody really got on track today," said Spartans' head coach John Kennaday. "We'll be looking to see where we go next with him with regional announcements coming up."
It was a tough final round of the championship for the Spartans as a team, which shot 292 (+8) on the 7,144-yard Catalina Course at OMNI Tucson National.
An eagle helped Landon Polterock to a back-nine 35 (-1) and an even-par round of 71. After that, SJSU counted a 75 (+4) from Matthew Ashley and an 80 (+9) from Scott Munger. Taylor Bromley carded an 85 (+14).
San José State finished seventh in the 11-team field at the conclusion of the 54-hole event, shooting 293-289-292-874 (+22).
"This is hard to swallow," Kennaday said. "The consistency just isn't there yet. We just couldn't really crack the code."
Polterock shot 71-74-71-216 (+3) for a top-20 finish. Ashley ended up tied for 36th at +9. Munger, at +13, finished tied for 44th, and Bromley was 55th at +23.
San Diego State shot a final-round 275 (-9), and charged up from third place at the beginning of the day to win the championship by one shot over UNLV. The Rebels began the day with an eight-shot lead over Nevada and an 11-shot advantage over the Aztecs.
UNLV's Kurt Kitayama is the 2015 MW individual champion after shooting 65-65-72-202 (-11). He held off a San Diego State's Xander Schauffele who charged on the final day with a 67, but finished two strokes back of Kitayama.
The NCAA Division I men's golf regional selection show happens Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. ET on the Golf Channel.
TEAM RESULTS
| 1. | -17 | San Diego State | 280-280-275-835 |
| 2. | -16 | UNLV | 273-276-287-836 |
| 3. | -10 | Nevada | 280-277-285-842 |
| 4. | -9 | #22-New Mexico | 282-286-275-843 |
| 5. | +13 | Colorado State | 287-287-291-865 |
| 6. | +20 | Boise State | 295-286-291-872 |
| 7. | +22 | San José State | 293-289-292-874 |
| 8. | +29 | Wyoming | 295-288-298-881 |
| 9. | +32 | Utah State | 295-298-291-884 |
| 10. | +34 | Air Force | 296-291-299-886 |
| 11. | +37 | Fresno State | 293-301-295-889 |
TOP INDIVIDUALS
| 1. | -11 | Kurt Kitayama (UNLV) | 65-65-72-202 |
| 2. | -9 | #22-Xander Schauffele (San Diego State) | 67-70-67-204 |
| 3. | -7 | Nick Fuller (Nevada) | 70-67-69-206 |
| T4 | -5 | Ryann Ree (San Diego State) | 71-70-67-208 |
| T4 | -5 | Carl Jonson (UNLV) | 68-72-68-208 |
| T4 | -5 | Corey Eddings (Nevada) | 66-69-73-208 |
SJSU RESULTS
| T9 | -3 | Cody Blick | 73-71-66-210 |
| T19 | +3 | Landon Polterock | 71-74-71-216 |
| T36 | +9 | Matthew Ashley | 74-73-75-222 |
| T44 | +13 | Scott Munger | 75-71-80-226 |
| 55. | +23 | Taylor Bromley | 75-76-85-236 |