Event: Battle at the Beach
Where: Pelican Hill Golf Course, Ocean North – Newport Coast, Calif.
When: Sunday through Tuesday, all day
Who to watch: Freshman Andrew Haggan had the best tournament of any Aggie last week at the Mauni Lani Invitational, finishing the tournament tied for 29th.
Haggan showed great consistency while dealing with harsh wind conditions. Look for the Walnut Creek, Calif. native to keep his momentum going this week at Pelican Hill.
Did you know? Freshman Josh Granger will be making his collegiate debut for the Aggies this weekend.
“He’s been working hard to get in the lineup,” said coach Cy Williams, “We’re excited to see how he does. He’s a good golfer.”
Preview: UC Davis is looking to turn things around following its disappointing 16th-place finish last week in Hawaii.
“We simply have to play better,” Williams said. “The guys have a lot of pride and we really want to rebound this tournament.”
The Aggies will face a difficult field in this tournament, which features five teams ranked in the top 25 – including No. 3 Washington. This will be UC Davis’ second straight tournament against some of the best teams in the country. Williams feels the Aggies can play with the best.
“We can compete with any team,” he said. “We’ve beat Oregon before and they placed second in Hawaii.”
While all of the Aggies will be looking to improve this week, none will be looking to get back on track more than Tyler Raber. Raber is one of the Aggies statistical leaders, but finished tied for 95th in Hawaii.
“Things just snowballed on him in Hawaii,” Williams said, “He’ll get back to hitting the ball well.”
Williams also stressed that things can change dramatically in a short time in golf.
“More than any other sport,” he said. “Things can turn around week to week in golf.”
– Trevor Cramer
