Saturday, May 7, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – Western Washington moved up two spaces on the leaderboard in the third and final round of the NCAA Men’s Golf West/South Central Super Regional from the Pueblo Country Club in Pueblo, Colorado.

The Vikings finished tied for 13th with a 54-hole team score of 9-over-par 861. They shot 2-under-par 282 as a team on Saturday. Western Washington tied with UC-Colorado Springs, Cameron and Sonoma State for 13th position and finished one stroke behind Cal State San Bernardino for 12th place.

Simon Fraser, the other GNAC team to qualify for the super regional, shot 5-over-par 289 on Saturday and finished 19th with a 54-hole score of 880. The 289 was SFU’s lowest round as a team by six strokes.

Western Washington senior Devin Andrews was the GNAC’s top individual finisher. Andrews carded a final-round score of 1-under-par 70 to finish tied for 15th at 2-under-par 211. Andrews shot three birdies and hit par on six of the last seven holes.

A pair of freshmen, Simon Fraser’s Bailey Bjornson and Western Washington’s Conrad Brown, were among five golfers tied for 50th place at 3-over-par 216. Bjornson shot 2-over-par 73 on Saturday but hit three birdies along with an eagle on hole No. 14. Brown vaulted up the order with a 3-under-par 68, the lowest round any GNAC golfer achieved over the three-day tournament. Brown improved 26 places on the leaderboard from the end of Friday to the end of Saturday. Brown hit six birdies, including five on the front nine.

GNAC Player of the Year Aidan Thain and SFU junior Jordan Bean were both two strokes behind at 5-over-par 218, finishing tied for 59th place after shooting their low rounds for the tournament. Thain carded a round of 1-under-par 70. He finished strong, shooting 3-under over the back nine. Bean got off to a hot start, birdieing the first three holes of his round and eventually finishing at 2-under-par 69 for the day.

Vikings senior Jordan Lee finished tied for 68th at 6-over-par 219 while Simon Fraser junior Ryan Stolys tied for 72nd at 7-over-par 220. Saint Martin’s senior Tyler Fitchett, the GNAC’s lone individual competitor, tied for 84th at 9-over-par 222.

CSU Pueblo won the super regional with a 54-hole team score of 7-under-par 845. Colorado Mesa (6-under-par 846), Midwestern State (846) and Oklahoma Christian (848) rounded out the top four teams that will advance to the NCAA national championships.

Matthew Pennington of Cal State San Marcos took individual medalist honors at 9-under-par 204, defeating Midwestern State’s Garrett Leak in a four-hole playoff. Liam Alder of Cal State Monterey Bay snagged third place at 7-under-par 206 and the final individual qualifying spot for nationals.