STOCKTON, Calif. - Behind a pair of top-20 individual finishes from Caleb Shetler and Carl Corpus, San Jose State men's golf put a cap on their 2021 fall slate by finishing third at the Visit Stockton Invite with a final team score of 23-under 829. The Spartans were one-under on the day with all four counting scorers finishing in the top 25 of the 90-man field.
Overall, the Spartans had a highly successful fall campaign, finishing in the top six of each of their four tournament appearances. San Jose State notched a sixth-place finish in the Gene Miranda Invitational followed by back-to-back fifth place finishes at the Husky Invitational and Wolf Pack Classic before Saturday's third-place final.
"We made a lot of progress this fall," said head coach John Kennaday. "We're doing things right. I'm proud of our guys. This fall has been really good for us.
"We have a lot of horsepower. I would equate it to having a dragster. When we have traction, we showed some outstanding times this fall. It was exciting and fun."
The Spartans, defending champions of the Visit Stockton Invite, finished under par as a team in all three rounds. Sunday's 18-hole final round saw SJSU drop a spot in the standings after a 1-under 283. Saint Mary's made up some ground and then some with a 16-under 268 on the day to finish just behind champion-Washington State (36-under 816).
Shetler tied for seventh individually after turning in an even-par 71 to finish at 8-under 68-66-71--205. The junior from Saratoga turned in five birdies on the day including three on the back nine on Nos. 10, 12 and 14. Corpus also had an even-par afternoon to finish in a tie for 17th at 5-under 68-69-71--208.
Nick Watts (T21) and Vijay Srinivasan (T25) helped lock down the third-place finish by carding a one-under and even-par, respectively. Zubair Firdaus, playing as an individual, had a great day on the course as he carded five birdies to climb 20 spots in the individual standings and tie Watts for 21st. Firdaus was 4-under 67 for the afternoon with birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 10, 12 and 14.
Kristopher Stiles for 27th at 2-under 70-69-72--211 to round out the Spartan field.
"We had six guys under par in one tournament and that's exciting," Kennaday said.
The Spartans have some time to reflect and get rested before the spring season comes around in January, which tees off on January 24th at the Southwestern Intercollegiate hosted by Pepperdine in Westlake Village, Calif.
"We'll take inventory, look at our statistics, interpret them, and see what we can do to strengthen our team," said Kennaday.
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