Long Beach State University Athletics
Men's golf prepares for Big West Conference Championship
4/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 27, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format
Long Beach State Men's Golf
Tournament No. 11
Big West Conference Championship
Hosted by the Big West Conference
Mission Viejo Country Club, Par-72, 6,965 yards
Mission Viejo, Calif.
Monday, May 2 - First & Second Rounds (36 holes), 7:30 a.m. PST
Tuesday, May 3 - Final Round (18 holes), 7:30 a.m. PST
FIRST TEE
The Long Beach State men's golf team returns to action taking part in the Big West Conference Championship, May 2-3, at the Mission Viejo Country Club in Mission Viejo. First and second rounds will be played on Monday (May 2) and final round play will be contested on Tuesday (May 3). Both days will begin at 7:30 a.m. LBSU seeded No. 5, will be paired with 4th-seeded UC Santa Barbara and 6th-seeded Cal State Fulleton for the first two rounds. The three teams are scheduled to tee off at 8:15 a.m. from the No. 1 hole. UC Davis is the top seed in this year's tournament, followed by Pacific and defending Big West champion UC Irvine. Cal Poly is seeded seventh followed by Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside.
FORTY-NINERS LINE-UP
Junior Kevin Roy and sophomores Philip Chian, Raymond Ho, Benjamin Lein and Kevin Lim will represent the 49ers in this year's Big West Championship. Roy will be playing in his third consecutive conference championship and this will be Lim's second appearance. Chian, Ho and Lein will be playing in their first Big West Tournament.
FOLLOW THE 49ERS ON GOLFSTAT LIVE
Live action of the Big West Conference Men's Golf Championship will be available at Golfstat.com.
LAST YEAR'S BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP
LBSU finished in third-place at last year's Big West Championship at the Mission Viejo Country Club. The 49ers recorded a 31-over par 895 to finish 22 strokes behind team champion UC Irvine and five shots behind second-place Pacific. LBSU was paced by former 49er Steve Gibson as he tied for eighth with a 6-over 222. Senior Kevin Roy tied for 22nd (+11) and sophomore Benjamin Lein finished in 25th (+12). UC Irvine's John Chin won the individual medalist by nine strokes with a 7-under.
LBSU ENDS REGULAR-SEASON WITH TOURNAMENT WIN
The 49ers concluded the regular-season on a winning note, capturing the Braveheart Classic back on Apr. 12 in Beaumont, Calif. It was the first tournament win for the 49ers since winning the Big West Championship back in 2004 at the Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa Margarita. The 49ers came back from an 11-stroke deficit (sixth-place) after 36-holes, firing a tournament low 277 in the final round to win by two shots over Loyola Marymount. LBSU recorded a 296 and 297 in the first two rounds of the tournament.
REESA EARNS FIRST WIN AS A HEAD COACH
With LBSU winning the Bravheart Classic back in mid-April, it gave Ryan Ressa his first-career win as a head coach. Ressa is in his first-year at the helm of the 49ers after spending the past six years as an assistant coach at UCLA (2009-10), Duke (2007-09), San Diego (2005-07) and Washington State (2005-05).
ROY RECORDS A STRONG SPRING SEASON
Junior Kevin Roy completed the spring season with strong performances in five of six tournaments the 49ers participated in. Roy recorded two top-20 finishes and three top-10's, while leading the 49ers in the last two tournaments of the year. Roy shot a low 69 four times this year (three this spring), just coming within one stroke of tying his career-low 68 that took place in the final round of the Del Walker Intercollegiate in 2009.
CHIAN FIRES CAREER-LOW 67
Sophomore Philip Chian fired a career-low 67 in the final round of the Braveheart Classic to help the 49ers claim their first tournament win in seven years. Chian's eclipsed his previous best 71 that was recorded in the second-round of The Prestige at PGA WEST this past fall.
LBSU FINISHES MIDDLE OF THE PACK AT WYOMING DESERT INTERCOLLEGIATE
The 49ers competed in their second tournament of the spring season, finishing in 11th place at the 20-team Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif. LBSU carded rounds of 304-313-297 for a total score of 914 to finish at 50-over par. Texas A&M won the team championship by five-strokes over second-place UNLV with an 879 (+15).
HO, ROY RECORD FIRST TOP-20 FINISH THIS SEASON
Senior Kevin Roy and sophomore Raymond Ho recorded their first top-20 finish this season as both players were the top finishers for the 49ers at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. Roy shot rounds of 74-79-71, while Ho had rounds of 72-78-74 to finish with a total score of 224 (+8).
49ERS START SPRING WITH BATTLE AT THE BEACH
In last year's inaugural Battle at the Beach tournament, the 49ers finished in ninth-place at 29-over-par. LBSU shot a three-day total of 1094 (358-369-367) to finish one-stroke ahead of Tennessee and two-strokes ahead of Notre Dame. Sophomore Raymond Ho was the top player for the 49ers, finishing tied for 31st at 3-over. UCLA captured the team title (-10) by one-stroke over Arkansas and Washington, while the Razorbacks' David Lingmerth and the Huskies' Chris Williams shared individual medalist honors.
49ERS CONCLUDE FALL SEASON
LBSU concluded the fall season competing in four highly competitive tournaments. The 49ers recorded their highest finish for the season at the 17-team Windon Memorial Classic in Glenview, Ill., tying for 12th-place with Kent State.
HO LEADS THE WAY FOR LBSU
Sophomore Raymond Ho (Cerritos, Calif.) led the 49ers with a stroke average of 74.72 for the fall season. Ho competed in all four tournaments, recording his highest finish at the season opening Windon Memorial, tying for 24th at 6-over.
REESA ON THE SPRING SEASON
"We're pretty excited. The guys look pretty fresh coming off from the off-season. They've done a lot of work in the off-season, physically on their condition and making some small adjustments to their practice, things like that, getting better. So, I'm excited about that. We had a pretty tough schedule this past fall, so it was good experience for the guys to see where we are going to be competing year in and year out and it's good for our program to get the experience of competing with teams from other parts of the country. The spring schedule is little bit lighter as we'll be competing in California for the rest of the season, so it's good the team as they'll be comfortable."
RESSA NAMED HEAD COACH
On July 8, Long Beach State director of athletics Vic Cegles announced that Ryan Ressa has been named the men's head golf coach at LBSU. Ressa joins the 49ers after serving as an assistant at UCLA, Duke, San Diego and Washington State.
RESSA SIGNS TWO TO NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT
Long Beach State men's golf coach Ryan Ressa announced the signing of J.J. Holen (Castaic) and Xander Schauffele (San Diego) to National Letters of Intent.
Holen, a 2010 Rolex AJGA All-American (Honorable Mention), recorded 12 top-10 finishes this past year as he won the Golfweek Junior Series at Longbow Golf Course and at the SCPGA Toyota Tour Cup Series Indian Wells. He also placed second at the AJGA Las Vegas Junior Open and fifth at the L.A. City Jr. Championships. Holen helped his team to victory at the Junior America's Cup where he finished in the top-10 and qualified for the U.S. Junior Championship in July. Holen is a two-time defending All-Santa Clarita Valley boys golfer of the year, ranked 46th in the American Junior Golf Association's Polo Golf Rankings. Advanced to the CIF/SCGA Southern California Golf Championship three straight seasons.
Schauffele, ranked 19th in Golfweek's junior class of 2011, recorded seven top-5 finishes in junior events in 2010 and was a runner-up at AJGA's ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior, Toyota Tour Cups at Warner Springs, Bella Collina and at La Purisima. He also placed second at the U.S. Junior Amateur in July, finished in fourth-place at the Junior America's Cup, USGA Boy's Junior Amateur Qualifier and Toyota Tour Cup at the Classic Club.
FOLLOW ON 49ER GOLF ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER
Fans can follow the Long Beach State men's golf team on Twitter at @LB49ermensgolf and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Beach-49er-Mens-Golf/170337326309729
49ER GOLF BLOG
Fans can also follow the 49er men's golf team at http://longbeach49ermensgolf.tumblr.com/
Players Mentioned
