Day one is in the books for all of the teams competing in the Big West tournament, and as it stands, the number to beat right now is 6-under par 282 which was carded by three teams including No. 1 seed UCSB.
The other two teams tied for first place with Santa Barbara is No. 2 seed Cal Poly and Long Beach State. All three teams are currently two strokes ahead of Cal State Northridge who is currently 4-under par 284.
Despite being two strokes down, CSUN currently has the best golfer out on the course as junior Felix Mory currently leads the field after carding 4-under par 68. Tied for second place is UCSB’s sophomore Nick Swanson who is 3-under par 69 while Brandon Bauman is tied for fifth after carding 2-under par 70.
Swanson’s card is currently the best on the Gaucho squad thus far. The Huntington Beach, Calif. native teed off at 1:50 in the afternoon and took advantage of the sunny weather and low wind.
The two golfers currently tied with Swanson are representing the Cal Poly squad in junior Jimmy Castles and senior Cole Nygren.
Junior Zach Smith is currently third in the Gauchos lineup after carding 1-under par 71, while freshman Brett Bennett carded is at even-par and tied for 17th in this competition. Junior Willy Moffly is the only member of the UCSB squad to not be at least at even-par after carding 2-over par 74.
Despite not taking control of the standings by the end of day one, the Gauchos are still in prime position to win this tournament. The important thing for Santa Barbara is to continue playing at a high level and let the chips fall where they may.
The Big West Tournament will resume play at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. UCSB will tee off from approximately between 1:10-1:50 p.m at the Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara.
