VISTA, Calif. — One tournament, one title. The St. Mary's University Men's Golf team pulled away in the third round of the Fujikura Invitational, winning by 16 strokes over host Cal State San Marcos in the first tournament of the spring season.
Four of the five Rattlers shot par or better on Tuesday, with newcomer
Guillaume Paquette (La Minerve, Quebec) shooting the low round of 69 to climb into a tie for third place. He finished his first tournament with the Rattlers with a 214 (-2).
Junior
Kongpop Kaikaew (Rayong, Thailand) posted his second-straight round under par, carding a 70 in the final round to enter the clubhouse with his first tournament title, turning in a five-under-par 211 (72-69-70). It is the first title of his career and his second top-10 finish of the season.
Junior
Baptiste Touchard (Saint-Agathon, France) shot a 71 in the third round, matching his first round to finish tied for fifth place with a 215 (-1). Freshman
Elijah Galvan (Austin, Texas) posted a 76, which didn't figure into the team scoring but placed him in a tie for eighth at 217 (+1). Junior
Oscar Sandberg (Enkoping, Sweden) had a much better second day of the tournament, shooting even par to climb from 55th to 37th in the field with a 227.
The title is the first for the Rattlers this season and the first since the initial spring tournament last year, the Jack Brown Memorial Invitational.
St. Mary's recorded 175 pars to lead the field and collected a tournament-best five eagles. The team averaged a field-best 3.20 on par 3s and an amazing 4.52 on par 5s, shooting 29-under-par on the long holes.
Individually, Kaikaew paced the field, averaging 2.92 on par-3 scoring, while Paquette tied for the lead with a 4.33 average on par-5 scoring.
St. Mary's hosts the annual Rattler Invitational beginning on Monday, Feb. 17. The teams will compete in a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m.
