The CSUN men’s golf team had two players finish in the top 10 at the Santa Clara Invitational at Silver Valley Creek Country Club in Santa Clara on Monday and Tuesday.
Senior Doug Miller was one of five players to post a below-par round as he turned in a score of 71 on two of the three rounds, finishing in sixth place overall with a score of (+1) 217. Junior Luis Kim, who was in his first collegiate tournament, shot a final round 75 to go with rounds of 71 and 73 on Monday.
“Other than a little trouble putting, Luis played great,” said head coach Jim Bracken. “He will be a good addition to our team.”
On Monday, the Matadors carded rounds of 290-303 to finish with a two-round 593. CSUN trailed first-place Santa Clara by 18 shots heading into Tuesday’s final round. Santa Clara had score of 282 for the team in the second round to hold a two-stroke lead over Loyola Marymount heading into Tuesday’s final round.
Miller shot a 71 in the first round and 75 in the second round and ended up at (+2) 146 for the day.
Freshman Eric Jarvey was at (+7) 151 after shooting a 72 in the morning session and a 79 in the afternoon session. Senior Amit Nat was at (+9) 153 after shooting 77 and 76 on Monday. Junior Joe Lopez shot 77 and 84 to finish (+17) 161.
Senior Amrit Nat and freshman Dean Tonneslan, who competed individually, both tied for 63rd at (+16) 160. Nat finished with rounds of 78-82 while Tonneslan carded an 81-79 on the opening day of the tournament.
“We are starting to come around,” Bracken said. “We are still a little inconsistent. We can have a good round and then a bad round or a bad round and a good round.”
CSUN shot a three-round 885, just three shots off their season-best and finished fifth as a team. The Matadors shot rounds of 290-303-292 to finish 18 strokes off the pace. For the tournament, Miller posted his best performance of the fall. Kim shot a final round 75 and finished at (+2) 218 to tie for ninth-place.
Amit Nat also had a one under-par 71 on Tuesday to jump from 41st place on Monday to finish in a tie for 22nd. Nat wound up with rounds of 77-76-71 for a +8. Jarvey, who was 28th after Monday’s two rounds, finished in the same 28th spot after rounds of 72-79-75 for a three round (+10) 226. Lopez, who tied for 16th at the Fresno State/Lexus Classic two weeks ago, struggled with a 60th-place finish after rounds of 77-84-77, and a (+22) 238 overall.
Amrit Nat finished at 67th at (+28) 244 with rounds of 78-82-82 and Tonneslan completed his first tournament as a Matador at 69th with rounds of 81-79-86 to finish at (+30) 246.
Boise State defeated Santa Clara on Tuesday to take the team-title and freshman Brian Locke of Loyola Marymount was the individual champion with an 11 under-par 205.
The Matadors will next tee-off on Nov. 7 at the Bill Cullum/Countrywide Intercollegiate in Simi Valley at Wood Ranch Golf Course.
“I really like this team,” Bracken said. “I think we will make real progress in the spring.”
Just Satzman can be reached at Justin.Satzman@csun.edu.
