By Andrew Hartley (@andrewhart1ey) – Spear Reporter
SJSU men’s golf finished last out of 12 teams in the Southwestern Inviational at the North Ranch Country Club.
After tying for fourth in the Visit Stockton Pacific Invitational, the Spartans took part in a tournament that included five nationally ranked teams.
They started the three day tournament on Monday placing 11th led by sophomore Zubair Firdaus who shot a 73.
Junior Kristopher Stiles continued to impress, shooting a 74 and tied for 33rd on the day.
Stiles had the highlight of the day on Monday with a putt from almost off the green that jubilated him and the rest of the team.
Stiles did not compete in the remaining two days of the tournament.
The second day of the tournament reaffirmed the statement, “home field advantage,” as host team Pepperdine shot the best on the day.
The wind got into double digit gusts Tuesday, affecting the strokes of everyone in the tournament. Only two teams improved their score from the first day of play.
It forced senior individual player Luigi Wong into eight bogeys, five of them occurring on the back nine.
Senior Kotaro Murata was the only Spartan that improved their score on day two, finishing with three birdies.
SJSU held a six shot lead over USC for 11th place but Wednesday is when the Spartans fell.
It featured 14 mph winds which forced Wong into shooting an 81, his lowest score of the tournament.
While three Spartans managed to shoot a 75 on the day, USC and UNLV improved their scores leaving SJSU to fall to 12th.
On a course where teams must manage their mistakes, the Spartans performed them with regularity featuring two of the bottom five shooters on par fives.
This was SJSU’s 16th time participating in the tournament with their best finish being third in the 1992 season.
The Spartans will travel to Hawaii to participate in the Amer Ari Invitational in hopes of a better outcome next week.