Returning home earlier this week from an 11th place finish amongst a 15 team field at the Saint Mary’s Invitational in Pebble Beach, Calif., Head Coach Garrett Clegg and his team will have a quick turnaround as they prepare for what appears as an even more challenging 15 team field at next week’s Husky Invitational.

The two-round tournament will be held at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Suncadia, Washington, from September 22-23 on the par-71 Cascade Course. Tee times will follow a shotgun start, beginning at 7:20 a.m. both days.

A West Coast based field comprises the competition, with Pac-12 rival and last year’s conference championship runner-up the Oregon Ducks joining host University of Washington, Oregon State, UCLA, Utah and WSU to represent the conference.

Saint Mary’s Invitational team champion San Diego State will be making the trip north along with fellow Mountain West Conference schools BYU and New Mexico. Pepperdine, Saint Mary’s and Sacramento State round out the California schools and Seattle University joins the Cougars and Huskies as the representatives from the state of Washington.

As was the case in the week prior, and with even stiffer competition in front of them, this two-day affair serves as a prime opportunity for the Cougars to not only assess their standing as a team prior to conference play in the spring, but also potentially build their postseason resume. Even though the NCAA does not conduct its conference championships until early May, golf is one of its few sports where fall results count towards postseason selection.

Coming off of a conference championship last year at Palouse Ridge, where WSU finished 10th and behind all other Pac-12 members participating in this tournament, opportunities to maintain pace or get a leg up on closely competing schools- such as the one in front of the Cougars- become critically important.

Clegg has not yet officially announced who his varsity five will be on Monday and Tuesday, but expect the participants to parallel with who played earlier in the week.

Rathdrum, Idaho native Derek Bailey is expected to once again lead the Cougars scoring efforts after placing a 23rd place finish at the St. Mary’s Invitational, where he found himself tied for second after day 1. The sophomore will look to build off of last week’s final score of 6-over and maintain the level of performance he displayed in shooting 3-under in round 1.

Senior Evan Omelia is likely to play again in Suncadia after finishing second amongst his teammates in a score of 11-over, good enough for a tie for 38th at Poppy Hills Golf Course. It also would not come as a shock to see either of the other two Cougar seniors Seth Nickerson or Bhurinat Songpaiboon given the call from Clegg on Monday.

Another interesting storyline worth following is the development of freshman Aaron Whelan, who jumped all the way from the 72nd post after day one to finish tied for 46th . After shooting 7-over in round one, he found his footing and carded an even-par finish in round 3 to cap his first collegiate tournament.

The Cougars will return home next week following the conclusion of the Husky Invitational to host their first tournament of the year, the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate at Palouse Ridge Golf Course Sept. 28-29. Live updates from the Husky Invitational can be followed at birdiefire.com.

Reporting by Braden Johnson