UHH men’s golfers fade to 13th

Tribune-Herald

The University of Hawaii men’s golf team struggled through three rounds and finished 13th in the Otter Invitational on Tuesday in Monterey, Calif.

The 15th-ranked Vulcans shot 318 in the final round for a 928 team total, 74 strokes behind team champion and eighth-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay (854) in the 15-team field at the Blackhorse Golf Course.

“It was one of our worst tournaments in a long time,” UHH coach Earl Tamiya said. “We just played really bad. We had bad course management and we putted poorly. We need to regroup and hopefully we can put it together this coming week for the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate.”

The host Otters shot 10-under par in the two-day event to beat No. 1-ranked Barry University (881) by 27 shots. Wilmington University (889) was third, followed by University of British Columbia (895) and UC San Diego (897) to round out the Top 5.

The Otters’ Anton Rosen (71-70-70—211) and Barry’s Mario Beltran (68-70-73—211) shared medalist honors.

Corey Kozuma (78-75-75) and Kyeton Littel (71-78-79) led UHH with 228 totals, and tied for 34th place.

Also competing for the Vulcans were Chris Shimomura (T-52nd, 79-75-80—234), Christian Agosto (T-72nd, 79-79-84—242) and Dalen Yamauchi (74th, 81-75-87—243.

CSUMB led second-place Barry University by 15 strokes after the opening two rounds Monday. The Vulcans carded rounds of 307 and 303 for a 610 total.

The Vulcans return home to host the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate on Monday and Tuesday at the Waikoloa Kings Golf Course. The men’s and women’s event includes some of the top teams from the NCAA Division II’s West Region.

UHH is the two-time defending team champion in the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate and Kozuma is the defending individual champion. Grand Canyon is the defending women’s team champion.