After a strong final round, the Cal Poly Men’s Golf team claimed third place in the 2021 Big West Men’s Golf Championship on Tuesday, May 4 at the La Quinta Country Club in Irvine.
The third place finish is a major improvement from the last Big West Championship in 2019, when the Mustangs finished ninth. In addition this is the best Big West Championship finish for Cal Poly since the 2016-2017 third place finish.
The win comes on the heels of a big final round from redshirt freshman Austin Liu. Liu finished round three with an even par 72 collecting four birdies and four pars on the day. This was the last round of an impressive 217 stroke, one-over par tournament for Liu.
After posting a first round 75, Liu bounced back with a second round 70. The play was good enough to earn him seventh place overall in the tournament, his second career top-10 collegiate finish.
Redshirt sophomore Will Draper and redshirt junior Tanner Podres both finished tied for 11th place in the tournament with two other golfers, after posting two-over par 218. Draper and Podres had identical scorecards over the three rounds, both finishing with a first round 74, second round 74, and final round 70.
Redshirt freshman Luke Adam finished with a final round 72 to put a bow on his eight over par 224 total. His final round coupled with a 73 stroke first round and 79 stroke second round was good enough for a tie in 22nd place.
In a tie for 24th place was freshman Joey Zambri after a final round score of 78. Zambri finished with a nine over par 225 total, after a first round 75 and a second round 72.
Overall Cal Poly was six-over on the tournament with an aggregate scorecard of 870 over the three-day championship.
UC Davis finished second with a final score of one-over par. The Aggies were tied with Poly after the first round, and were in second place outright in both rounds two and three.
Long Beach State was ahead on the scorecard after each round, and never gave up first place. The Beach finished the tournament six-under par.
Cal Poly improved after each round finishing with a 296 first round, 290 second round, and 284 final round. They were tied for second after round one, and were sitting in fourth place after round two.
The Mustangs’ 284 in the final round, the 586 in the first two rounds, and the 870 tournament total were all season-best scores.
Long Beach State will now represent the Big West Conference in the NCAA regionals on May 17-19.