Event: U.S. Intercollegiate
Where: Stanford Golf Course – Stanford, Calif.
When: Sunday through Tuesday, all day
Who to watch: Sophomore Tim Honeycutt has been coming on strong for the Aggies lately.
The Placerville, Calif. native had five birdies in his final nine holes last time he took the course on his way to a round score of 71.
Did you know? This will be the first tournament the Aggies have played in Northern California since the Pacific Invitational in early November.
At that tournament, UC Davis finished first out of a field of 12 teams.
Preview: While UC Davis performs well close to home, coach Cy Williams doesn’t believe the Aggies will have a particular advantage this weekend.
“It just means more family and alumni will attend,” Williams said. “We just try to play well no matter where we are.”
The Aggies will face yet another very tough field at Stanford. Among the teams teeing up this weekend, seven are ranked in the top-25, including No. 5 Washington and host No. 3 Stanford.
As usual, though, the Aggies are focused on themselves.
“We don’t worry about other teams,” Williams said. “How they play is out of our control. We just want to play well. That’s the main thing.”
UC Davis will certainly be looking to be at their best because this tournament will be their final chance to tune-up before the Big West Conference Championships in May.
“We really want to get all our guys going for conference,” Williams said. “It’s key for us to get our confidence up.”
Senior Brent Booth, a key part of the Aggies’ Big West Champion team last season, is one man UC Davis needs to have playing well.
Booth had finished in the bottom half of the field in five of UC Davis’ first eight tournaments this season, but he was among the team’s top players in the last two and had his first top-20 finish of the year at the Barona Collegiate Cup on March 26.
Booth’s rapid improvement has been partially due to the changes he made to his swing prior to the last two events.
“He’d been away from his swing coach for too long,” Williams said. “He picked up some bad habits. He’s been working on his swing and it’s made a real difference. It’s gone really well.”
This tournament should be a bit of a homecoming for the Los Altos, Calif. native, who graduated from Menlo School, just four miles from Stanford.
– Trevor Cramer
