The UC Riverside men’s golf team hosted the annual Braveheart Classic at the Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont, CA on April 9-10, where they placed eighth overall in the standings out of ten teams after 3 rounds. The Highlanders, however, shared their eighth place finish with Big West rival Cal Poly, both scoring 895. David Gazzolo led the Highlanders again, as he tied for third place overall, scoring four under par at 212.
In the first day of play, the Highlanders sat in seventh place scoring 589 after two rounds of play. Having scored 292 in the first round and 297 in the second, the Highlanders were very much in the tourney, as they sat just three strokes back of fifth place La Verne. David Gazzolo paced the Highlanders, sitting fifth overall, with a total of 141 having shot 73 in the first round and an impressive 68 in the second round.
On the second day, the Highlanders slipped a little, as they scored a team total of 306, down from their previous scores of 292 and 297. Gazzolo scored one-under 71 in the last and final round, bring his final total to 212, where he was tied with three other competitors. Gazzolo was one stroke from placing second, and two strokes from placing first. Coming in second for the Highlanders was Ryan Smith.
Smith had a total score of 227 (73-75-79), placing in 37th place. Jason Semthiti was the third Highlander in the standings coming in at 41st overall with a total score of 228 (72-77-79). With identical scores of 234, BJ Doucett (74-77-83) and Matt Fitzgerald (78-79-77) both sat tied for 53th place overall.
The winner of the Braveheart Classic was San Francisco’s Ji Hwan Park who had a total score of 210, giving him sole possession of first place out of 66 individuals. Cal State Fullerton won the team title having scored 859 total, winning by just by one stroke over second place Sacramento State.
The UCR men’s golf will next compete at the Anteater Invitational hosted by UC Irvine on the April 23-24.
