Feb. 27, 2018
Westlake Village, Calif.----- Playing through a second morning frost delay and a brief late morning hailstorm, San Jose State University matched its best team performance of the season finishing in seventh place in the 15-team Southwestern Intercollegiate men's golf tournament.
The Spartans finished 54 holes at the North Ranch Country Club with a 900 team score. UCLA, ranked 22nd nationally by GolfStat, completed a start-to-finish victory as the only team under par at eight-under 856. Host Pepperdine, which turned in the best second round team score at one-under 287, was a distant second at 876. Tennessee was third at 891.
"I'm proud of the way our guys fought. It was very cold and very windy. Obviously, we've shot better scores, but the amount of character we showed this week made me most proud," said San Jose State head coach John Kennaday about his team that finished ahead of two Pac-12 teams, conference rival New Mexico and Michigan.
Sean Talmadge was the top Spartan individual tying for 21st place, a career best, at 223. Talmadge finished his second round with a 74 and matched par for the second time this season with a final round 72. His previous best finish this season was a 46th place tie at the Price's Give Em Five Invitational in October 2017.
Sean Yu's one-under par 71, the best 18 holes by a San Jose State player in the tournament, lifted him to a 26th place finish at 225. Vijay Srinivasan was next at 226 tying for 33rd. Kevin Velo, the Spartans' leader in stroke average and best scorer in the first round with an even par 72, struggled the final 36 holes and finished tied for 43rd at 230.
All five Spartans contributed at least one round to the team's scoring total. Talmadge, Yu and Srinivasan had all three of their scores count. San Jose State got a necessary lift from Matthew Murray whose second round 76 and final round 77 counted in the team scoring. It was the second tournament this spring that the Spartans counted Murray's final two rounds. He finished tied for 53rd at 233.
"We're starting to do that more and more. We really didn't hit on all cylinders at all in the fall. We're starting to have more of the team aspect show up as the year goes on which is a very important thing for us," Kennaday added.
The cold, wet and windy conditions at the North Ranch Country Club likely will be similar when San Jose State plays in its next tournament -- the Bandon Dunes Championship, March 11 & 12, in Bandon, Ore. "Most definitely (the conditions here) will be what we'll see in Bandon Dunes. We had to bundle up, get the hand warmers going, manage our hypothermia," concluded the Spartans coach.
Southwestern Intercollegiate men's golf tournament
North Ranch Country Club, Westlake Village, Calif.
Par 72, 6,994 yards
| Final 54-hole results | |
| Team scores | |
| 1. UCLA | 856 |
| 2. Pepperdine | 876 |
| 3. Tennessee | 891 |
| 4. San Diego State | 893 |
| 5. UC Davis | 894 |
| 6. SMU | 896 |
| 7. San Jose State | 900 |
| 8. Denver | 903 |
| Washington State | 903 |
| 10. Oregon State | 904 |
| 11. New Mexico | 907 |
| 12. Michigan | 910 |
| 13. Augusta | 917 |
| 14. Long Beach State | 919 |
| 15. LMU | 933 |
| Leading individuals | |
| 1. Kyle Mueller, Michigan | 71-71-66-208 |
| 2. Lorenzo Scalise, Tennessee | 67-72-70-209 |
| 3. Hidetoshi Yoshihara, UCLA | 71-73-69-213 |
| 4. Cole Madey, UCLA | 70-73-72-215 |
| 5. Clay Feagler, Pepperdine | 71-70-75-216 |
| Noah Goodwin, SMU | 74-71-71-216 |
| Devon Bling, UCLA | 74-73-69-216 |
| Anthony Cecere, Pepperdine | 75-70-71-216 |
| San Jose State scores | |
| 21. Sean Talmadge | 77-74-72-223 |
| 26. Sean Yu | 77-71-77-225 |
| 33. Vijay Srinivasan | 76-75-76-227 |
| 43. Kevin Velo | 72-80-78-230 |
| 53. Matthew Murray | 80-76-77-233 |