Windy conditions overtook the Meadow Club at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational this week.

The Washington State Cougar men’s golf team finished 11th in a 16-team field in Fairfax, California.

The Cougs were led by a strong performance by junior Evan Omelia, who shot 3-over par in the entire tournament. Omelia finished 7-under with nine birdies in the first round, and finished the tournament in 28th place. Freshman Derek Bayley finished two strokes back from Omelia, and tied for 35th. As a team, the Cougs were 1-under at the end of day one.

However, the team could not build on that, and finished 18-over, two strokes ahead of 12th-place Saint Mary’s, and two strokes behind 10th-place San Francisco.

Head Coach Garrett Clegg said the Cougars didn’t play their best golf on the second day of the tournament, and he would like to see the team start to finish better.

“We have to work on finishing out our rounds and do a better job of playing consistent throughout the tournament,” Clegg said.

The Cougars, who fielded a young team this tournament, saw all five of their participants provide counting scores. Freshman Brian Mogg made his first start for the team, and along with sophomore Nick Mandell, led the Cougars in the final round of play, both shooting 4-over on the par-71 course. Redshirt senior Sang Lee was able to put forward a nice second round at 2-under.

The WSU women’s golf team competed in the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Tacoma and finished in second place out of 13 teams. The Cougar women finished with a score of 33-over par. On the final day of the tournament the WSU women shot the third-lowest of the day with a score of 16-over par.

“We are proud of how we played this week,” WSU Women’s Golf Head Coach Kelli Kamimura said. “We went head-to-head with the No. 1 team in the country and competed with them for a large part of the tournament. We gave away a few shots in the end, but played well overall.”

Next week, the WSU men’s golf team will return to California for the third time this year, participating in the Bill Cullum Invitational in Simi Valley. The WSU women’s golf team will compete at UNLV’s Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in Boulder City, Nevada, Oct. 26-28.

Reporting by Beau Baily