LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz.— The NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference men’s golf championships began on Monday at Wigwam Golf Club.
UH Hilo took a 10-stroke lead after 18 holes of play (-3), ahead of pre-tournament favorite Holy Names (+7). The Vulcans have the top two players on the leader board in Andrew Otani (69) and Keith Ng (70), and in total have three of the top five individuals with Junsu Im tied for third (71).
With 18 holes in the books, there are still two rounds to play.
“The boys played good today,” said Earl Tamiya, who has been the Vulcan leader since 1991. “We still have a long ways to go. It’s a good start, we have been playing well lately.”
It is a veteran group who has been close before. UH Hilo lost in a sudden death playoff in the 2022 championships to Hawaii Pacific.
Otani is in his fifth season and was the PacWest Freshman of the Year in 2019. UHH’s last championship was in 2014.
In more recent history, the Vulcans finished third last week in the West Region Preview, featuring nearly 20 top teams from all across the west. Like Monday, Holy Names was the next PacWest team behind the Vulcans at the tournament in Rohnert Park.
Through Monday’s warm round (87 degrees, light wind), the Vulcans turned in a scoreboard of -3, with the Hawks next at +7. Dominican is third at +9, Academy of Art fourth (+19), defending champion Hawaii Pacific is fifth (+23) and Chaminade sixth (+28).
Behind Otani and Ng on the leader board is Ethan Alexander of Chaminade (71), Luke Dugger of Holy Names (71), Elliott (72) and Sam (73) Nielsen of Dominican, Edvin Backstrom of HNU (74) and Blas Ayesa of the Hawks (74). There is a five-way tie for tenth.