SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara men's golf team opens its spring season Friday at the 17-team Arizona Intercollegiate. The two-day, 54-hole event will be competed on the 7,283-yard, par-72 Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz. It's the first of five spring tournaments for the Broncos leading up to the West Coast Conference Championships in mid-April.
The first event of the winter/spring season will feature three teams ranked in the top 30 according to Golfstat.com. Texas (8), California (16) and Washington (28) have to be considered the favorites. "It's an unusual field," Broncos head coach Rob Miller said. "There are three really good teams at the top then a significant dropoff."
Santa Clara holds the fifth-highest ranking entering play at No. 98, just below No. 63 New Mexico and ahead of No. 104 Iowa state and No. 105 New Mexico State.
"The idea for us is to stay close to the top 30 teams," Miller added. "We want to improve our ranking to get into the top 70 and a chance at regionals. We're going to see plenty of talented players and teams and that can help us."
Sophomore Hayden Shieh, who captured his second career tournament title at the Cabo Del Sol Intercollegiate and had a runner-up finish at the Bill Cullum Invitational to close out the fall season, will head the Broncos five-player team. He will be joined by junior Tyler Kertson, who finished second to Shieh at the Cabo Del Sol and tied for ninth at the Bill Cullum Invitational.
"Hayden and Tyler really carried us in the fall," Miller said. The Broncos had three top 5 finishes in their four fall events.
Freshmen Michiel Eyre and Derek Ackerman, along with Evan McLeod, round out Santa Clara's team. Carlos Briones will compete as an individual.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Name: Arizona Intercollegiate
Dates (Site): Friday-Saturday, Jan. 29-30 (Tucson, Ariz.)
Host: University of Arizona
Tournament Field: Arizona (147), BYU (166), California (16), Cal State Fullerton (182), Denver (207), Iowa State (104), New Mexico (63), New Mexico State (119), Santa Clara (98), South Dakota State (138), Southern Illinois (214), Texas (8), Tulsa (206), Utah (128), UTEP (105), Washington (28), Washington State (122)
Format: 54-hole stroke play, 36 holes on Friday and 18 holes on Saturday, with the low four of five scores counted each round for the team total.
Course: Sewailo Golf Club
Yardage-Par: 7,283 yards-Par 72
Course Website: www.casinodelsolresort.com/sewailogolfclub
Course Number: (520) 838-6623
Live Scoring: www.birdiefire.com/tournament/17157/
