FAIRFIELD, Calif. — For the second time this season and the first since winning its home tournament at the R.E. Lamkin Invitational, San Diego men's golf recorded the best score after three rounds of stroke play at the West Coast Conference Tournament at Green Valley Country Club, highlighted by
Ian Maspat claiming individual honors.
At 15-under 198, Maspat tied last year's low 54-hole score, set by Pepperdine's Mahanth Cirravuri and Kristoffer Kuvaas, and became USD's fourth individual champion and first since Grant Forrest in 2013.
Maspat won by three strokes to top Oregon State's Nguyen Anh Minh. Both players were the only two golfers to shoot at least 10 strokes under par as Seattle U's Jacob Kang finished in third place at 6-under par.
"I felt pretty calm for the most part out there," Maspat said after his third round. "I felt like I've been knocking at the door many times this season and I felt like I was pretty comfortable. Whatever happened out there, I was willing to accept and I just played my own game and stuck to my process."
As a team, San Diego shot 22-under 830, as the Toreros' three other scoring players finished within the top 16. Reed Arnaldo finished tied for 12th at 3-under par while Cooper Humphreys and You Seong Choi both finished tied for 16th at 2-under par.
USD was highlighted by a 12-under second round, which was the best round by a team this weekend. Then, the Toreros shot 8-under in the third round to lead by four over Pepperdine.
However, on top of three rounds of stroke play, the conference team championship comes down to match play, which took place Sunday.
In the semifinals, San Diego fell in the tight matchup, losing 3-2 to Oregon State.
Maspat and Humphreys both won their matches, 4 and 3 as well as 2 and 1, respectively.
Humphreys was down one after the first, but immediately responded with an eagle on the par-5 third to tie the match back up. The sophomore, who faced off against Minh, got a birdie on the seventh to take his first lead at 1 up.
He then took a 2 up lead on holes No. 10, 12 and 15 to seal the win with a par on the 17th hole.
Maspat took a commanding lead early, getting to 3 up through four, and was 2 up before making the turn. The graduate student won back-to-back holes on 11 and 12 to regain the 3 up lead before making a birdie on the 15th to seal a 4 and 3 win over Oregon State's Rylan Johnson.
Reid Piron went from being down one to taking a 1 up lead with back-to-back birdies on 8 and 9. However, he lost holes on 10 and 11 before eventually falling on the 17th hole 2 and 1.
Choi lost his match 4 and 2. Although he brought the match to all square after five holes, he was unable to create any momentum.
Arnaldo had the closest match as it came down to the 18th hole. The freshman took a 2 up lead after three before being tied early on the back nine. A par on the par-3 13th gave him a 1 up lead before losing two of the final three holes, losing to Oregon State's Collin Hodgkinson 1 up.
Had Arnaldo won the 18th hole, San Diego would have advanced to the final match, which was won by Pepperdine, which defeated the Beavers, 3.5-1.5.
UP NEXT
San Diego will wait to see if its name is called to make an NCAA Division I Men's Golf Regional. The men's golf regional selection show is slated for this Wednesday, May 6 at 11 a.m. PT and will air on the Golf Channel. A total of 81 teams and individuals will participate across six regional sites, between May 18-20, hoping to qualify for NCAA Nationals at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in nearby Carlsbad, Calif.
