The 18th hole of the 2011 Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah signaled the end of the regular season for the UC Davis men’s golf team.
The Aggies finished with an overall record of 81-62 and a Golfweek national ranking of 55.
UC Davis took an honorable fourth place finish out of eight teams over the weekend. As the last regular season event of the year, head coach Cy Williams expressed optimism going forward into postseason play.
“It has to give us great confidence going forward because while our results were pretty good, we found a couple of areas we can very much improve on,” Williams said.
Freshman and Los Osos, Calif. native Matt Hansen finished at 9-under 207, tying a season-low with a 68 in the final round. Hansen was only two strokes behind the tournament winner as he took third place overall.
“[Hansen] has been doing great all season,” Williams said. “I think he is doing a very good job preparing for each event and he is a great competitor.”
Senior Austin Graham placed 10th overall to help lead UC Davis to a fourth-place team finish. The Aggies improved steadily throughout the event, taking three strokes off each round’s score and finishing at 6-under.
Colorado State won the team title, finishing at 17-under, four strokes ahead of 39th-ranked UNLV.
Junior Tyler Raber tied for 29th overall at 2-over, taking two strokes off his second round score to finish with a 71 in the final round.
Sophomore Andrew Haggen finished at 6-over, improving on his second round score by four strokes, while freshman Daniel Covrig was 8-over to help the Aggies.
BYU’s Zac Blair earned medalist honors, finishing at 11-under.
The Aggies must now get ready for the Big West Championships, which will take place in Mission Viejo, Calif. at the Mission Viejo Country Club on May 2 and 3.
A conference title for the Aggies will guarantee a bid for the NCAA Regional Championship on May 19-21.
Williams was crystal clear about his expectations for that event.
“It’s all about the Aggies,” he said. “We plan on winning.”
RON HOOPER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org
