By Andrew Hartley(andrewhart1ey) – Spear Reporter
Carl Corpus using driver to tee off. | Photo courtesy of SJSU Athletics
Like every year, the Spartans finished their regular season in their own backyard. But unlike every season, they struggled to finish in the top half.
For the second year in a row, SJSU finished 10th in the 76th edition of the Western Intercollegiate earlier this week.
Carl Corpus led the team tying for 14th overall and tied for the best percentage on par 3s in the tournament.
“I hit almost everything on-line today, literally where I wanted it to go,” said Corpus.
The Spartans were seventh at one point Wednesday, which would’ve been the best finish in five years. Unfortunately, the front nine was not as forgiving as the back nine.
“The conditions were tough today, I mean just look at the leaderboard,” said Kotaro Murata. Not a single team Wednesday would shoot under par.
The Santa Cruz wind began to pick up causing double bogeys, yelling and even a ball literally getting stuck in the rough.
The team got 10 different players in action this week in one of the most acclaimed tournaments in the nation.
“This tournament above any regular season event provides more lifetime memories and more lessons to the players in both golf and life than any other tournament,” said head coach John Kennaday.
History for the Western Intercollegiate was also made Monday and Tuesday.
Pepperdine’s Roberto Nieves and Oregon’s Aaron Du tied the 18 hole low on the course shooting a 63. Pepperdine as a team also posted a 18-hole low on the course Tuesday shooting 22-under 328.
Pepperdine would ultimately run away with the tournament winning by nine strokes.
Finishing last in par 4s overall, the Spartans will look to clean up their game before the conference championship. “We have to keep doing the right things, golf is just a funny game,” said Kennaday.
The team will head to Arizona for the first time this year for the Mountain West Championship looking to continue an upward trajectory. In 2019, the team finished in ninth then improved to seventh in 2021. The Spartans had their highest finish in 2022 tying for sixth with four of the participating players returning. Play will begin on April 28 where the Spartans hope to capture their first Mountain West title.