After a brief respite last week the Tigers get back to competition as they head to Fresno, Calif. to take part in the first annual Nick Watney Invitational hosted by Fresno State. Previously the Fresno State Lexus Classic, the Watney Invitational will be hosted at Sunnyside Country Club from Sept. 29-30.
"I am extremely excited to get back on the course and take on the field in Fresno," said head coach Chris Hill. "We addressed some holes in our game over the last two weeks and fixed some issues that we had at Saint Mary's to open the year. The guys did an awesome job in practice refocusing and are ready to go for Fresno and I think we are going to be very competitive."
"Its going to be a fun tournament to be a part of and I'm excited to see what Colten (Passey) can do on the course in tournament play as he's making his debut playing as an individual. I'm Looking forward to seeing how the guys bounce back from two weeks ago and see if they can up their game once again. We are going to again lean on Matt (Lee) and Byron (Meth) to bolster our play and look to them to continue their strong start to the season this weekend."
Last time out Pacific finished sixth at the Saint Mary's Invitational on Sept. 16. Junior Matt Lee was the star of the tournament for Pacific as the second-year Tiger grabbed a third-place finish after going -5 overall. As a team, Pacific went into the clubhouse at +15, finishing just behind Fresno State in their first encounter of the year with the Bulldogs.
The Sunnyside Country Club course is known for its tree-lined fairways, beautiful bunkering and challenging bent grass. The par-72 course will play at 6,950 yards from the championship tees for the week. Playing in the tournament for the week are 10 teams, including the Tigers. The teams include: Fresno State (host), Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Northridge, Grand Canyon, Santa Clara, Sacramento State, UC Irvine and UC Riverside.
Playing the Nick Watney Invitational for the Tigers will be: Byron Meth, Drew Bender, SeungJae Maeng, Matt Lee, and newcomer Anthony Madrid. In addition, freshman Colten Passey will play the tournament as an individual. After Lee's third place finish, Meth finished just off the junior's pace to post a seventh place finish in the first tournament on 2014.
The Fresno State Classic, formerly called the `Fresno State Lexus Classic', was renamed `The Nick Watney Invitational' prior to the this year's tournament after former Fresno State standout and PGA golfer Nick Watney. Watney played at Fresno State from 2000-2003, and was a three-time All-American. Watney was the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2000 and the WAC Player of the Year three consecutive seasons, 2001-03.
Live results for the invitational will be available via GolfStatResults.com.
