SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – With the help of career-low tournament scores from Gio Gandionco and Tyler Kertson, the Santa Clara men's golf team captured fifth place at the 20-team Bill Cullum Invitational, hosted by Cal State Northridge at the 6,819-yard, par-72 Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley.
Scoring below par in all three rounds, Gandionco captured his first top-5 finish by taking fourth place with an 8-under 208 total. He carded a 3-under 69 in today's final round after completing the suspended second round this morning at 1-under 71. He drained a tournament-high 39 pars and bested his previous tournament low score of 211, which he carded at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate last February.
Gandionco finished just five shots behind medalist Jon Rahm of Arizona State, who was one shot better than USC's Rico Hoey and two shots ahead of USC's Jonah Texeira.
With their 865 total the Broncos finished four shots behind Washington State (861) and two behind UC Irvine (863). USC, the 24th ranked team in the country according to Golfweek.com, was an 11-shot winner over 33rd-ranked Arizona State.
Kertson also scored all three rounds under par and placed one shot behind Gandionco in fifth place at 209 (-7) for his second career top-5 finish. He carded an eagle-3 on the par-5, 526-yard second hole, which was his final hole of the second round this morning to end the suspended round at 3-under 69. He then fired a final round 2-under 70 to beat his previous low score of 210 that came at the SCVB Pacific Invitational in November 2013.
Carlos Briones and Hayden Shieh tied for 62nd place with six other golfers in the 108-player field with totals of 225 (+9).
The Broncos will conclude their fall season competing in the SCVB Pacific Invitational from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 at the Stockton Country Club.
Bill Cullum Invitational Final Team Standings
1. Southern California 275-280-278 = 833 (-31)
2. Arizona State 279-278-287 = 844 (-20)
3. Washington State 282-293-286 = 861 (-3)
4. UC Irvine 278-292-293 = 863 (-1)
5. Santa Clara 282-292-291 = 865 (+1)
6. Pepperdine 278-292-296 = 866 (+2)
7. San Diego 284-287-297 = 868 (+4)
8. Sacramento State 287-295-289 = 871 (+7)
9. Southern Utah 281-296-295 = 872 (+8)
10. Utah State 287-299-288 = 874 (+10)
11. Fresno State 285-293-298 = 876 (+12)
12. CSU Northridge 293-294-290 = 877 (+13)
13. Long Beach State 292-292-296 = 880 (+16)
14. UC Riverside 292-296-294 = 882 (+18)
15. Cal Poly 292-297-296 = 885 (+21)
16. Hawaii 286-297-306 = 889 (+25)
17. UC Santa Barbara 294-299-299 = 892 (+28)
18. Loyola Marymount 293-304-296 = 893 (+29)
19. CSU Fullerton 297-304-297 = 898 (+34)
20. St. John's 292-298-309 = 899 (+35)
Santa Clara Final Individual Results
4. Gio Gandionco 68-71-69 = 208 (-8)
5. Tyler Kertson 70-69-70 = 209 (-7)
T62. Carlos Briones 72-76-77 = 225 (+9)
T62. Hayden Shieh 72-78-75 = 225 (+9)
T98. Michael Hultquist* 83-76-78 = 237 (+21)
T102. Drew Miller 83-76-79 = 238 (+22)
