On a weekend when golf’s greatest stars came together to compete in Georgia at the Master’s, WSU men’s golf was also competing at the Thunderbird Open in Arizona. The men had a solid day one, which saw them shoot below par, but they saw their scores fall on day two as they finished in 14th place out of 17 teams. 

In round one, the Cougars shot one below par as a team. Sophomore Sam Renner led the way with his score of two-below, with three birdies and a bogey. Senior Preston Bebich finished at one under, despite his five birdies.

He was set back by a few late bogeys but still finished with a respectable score. Senior Pono Yanagi finished even, with four birdies and four bogeys, while Ben Borgida and Drayton Joseph both shot two-over par in round one. When the day was done, the Cougars were in tenth place, and in a good spot to move up the standings for day two. 

Unfortunately, the Cougars did not improve upon their day one score. Day two was a busy day for the teams at the Thunderbird because they would have to complete two rounds in one day. 

In round two, the Cougars shot six over as a team collectively. Renner was even throughout the whole round until a double-bogey on hole 18 set him back to two over. Yanagi struggled in round two, with six bogeys and three birdies leading to a score of three-over.

Joseph led the team in round two, as he collected a team-high five birdies, which helped him finish even for the round. Borgida also finished strong in round two, with a score of one over, while Bebich found himself shooting a four-over in round two. 

The third round saw a very minuscule improvement for the Cougs, whose team score improved from six-over to five-over. That gave them an overall team score of ten-over par, which finished in 14th place.

Renner tied for 25th overall. He put together a strong final round, with a score of one-under, to give him a final score of one-under. Yanagi was steady in the final round, parring eight of his nine last holes to finish even. His final score was three-over, good for a finish of 52nd overall. 

Joseph shot two-over in the third round, landing him with a final score of four-over, 58th overall. Bebich matched his second-round score of four-over for a second time that day, scattering five bogeys and just a single birdie. And Borgida also shot four-over in round three, falling victim to an unfortunate triple-bogey on hole ten. Both Borgida and Bebich finished the tournament tied at seven-over, good for 75th overall. 

Overall, this was another unfortunate tournament for the Cougar golf team, who had been off to a strong start earlier in the year. They will likely need to have a very strong finish at the Pac-12 tournament if they want to convince the NCAA to send them to the NCAA tournament in May. The Pac-12 Tournament tees off April 26, and WSU will spend the next two weeks preparing for what could be their last event of the year.