Sports

Men’s golf ready to open season

Kevin Lucena // September 17, 2014

Fresh off an appearance in the NCAA Championships, the Chico State men’s golf team is back in action. Here’s a look at the members of the team and their goals for the upcoming year.

2013-2014 Season 12 Highlights

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Ranked No. 5 in the nation by The Golf Coaches Association of America as of May 1, 2014
Third place in the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship
Defeated the No. 1 team in the nation in the quarter-finals
Eliminated in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship match play
Four individual tournament wins 23 top 10 finishers, 35 top 20
Three team tournament wins

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Coaches

Head coach T.L. Brown

Entering the eighth season as Chico State men’s golf team head coach
2014 Golf Coaches Association of America West Region Coach of the Year
Two consecutive NCAA Tournament championship finals appearances
“I’m excited about our team this season. We have a lot of good young players coming in with experience, and there should be some
good battles in qualifying for tournaments, and even the guys who were All-Americans last year will be pushed.”

Assistant coach Steve Brown

Entering the fifth season as Chico State men’s golf team assistant coach
Owner and operator of Skyway Golf Park
“Bringing back three All-Americans certainly always helps. The freshman arriving have been playing competitive rounds over the summer, so hopefully we can make it back to the championship again this year.”

Returning 2013-2014 All Americans

Alistair Docherty

72.8 average round score, lowest average on the
team
Nine top 10 finishes in 12 events last season
Tied for fifth in the NCAA Championship stroke play, +4
after 3 rounds
Tied for 17th in the 62nd Oregon Stroke Play
Championship, shooting +2 over three rounds
Eliminated in the round of 64 of the Oregon
Amateur Championship
2013 Oregon Public Links Champion
Junior from Vancouver, Washington
“We have a very deep and talented team working
towards a national championship. I know we are a strong enough team to be in
North Carolina competing for the title come the end of spring.”

Lee Gearhart

73 average round score
Reigning conference player of the year
Led the team in individual tournament titles
Winner of the Coyote Classic, hosted by Cal
State San Bernardino, with a three- round total of -7
Winner of the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational,
hosted by Cal State Stanislaus, with a score of -2
Five top 10 finishes in twelve events
Tied for ninth In the Sacramento City Men’s Golf Championship, finishing
-1 after two days in June
Chico City Match-Play Champion in 2011 at
Bidwell Park, becoming the event’s youngest winner in over 50 years
Junior from Roseville, California

Justin Wiles

73.4 average round score, CCAA Newcomer of the Year award winner
Won the Notre Dame de Namur Argo Invitational at Poppy Ridge Golf Course, finishing -3 after three rounds
Four top 10 finishes in ten events, including a tie for fifth at the NCAA championships with Docherty
“I’m ready for the season to start, get back to nationals and reach that Championship match”
Tied for 17th in the 62nd Oregon Stroke Play
Championship, finishing at +2 after three rounds
Reached the round of 16 in the 105th Oregon
Amateur Championship
Junior from Klamath Falls, Oregon

Returning Player

Zach Sardina

77 average round score
Second team All-American at Scottsdale
Community College in 2013
Senior from Phoenix,
Arizona

Incoming Players

Colten Kleis

Junior from Kirkland, Washington
2013 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges All-American while at Bellevue
Community College
Hit first hole-in-one recently at Skyway Golf Park during a
practice round

David Na

First-year from Alameda, California
Won the West Alameda County Conference
Championship individual title for 2013-2014
2014 Junior Tour of California Summer Series III
at El Macero Country Club champion
Tied for ninth at the Alameda Commuters Golf Tournament
with two of four rounds in the 60s

Justin Nuval

First-year from Concord, California
Won the Diablo Valley Junior Championship in
July with a 68
Placed second in the East Bay Junior
Golf Championship in July, shooting 72-70
2 Northern California titles in High School
“Since I’ve been in Chico everyone has been working hard to get better from the 6am workouts to 18 hole qualifiers..I’m excited for that first tournament in Arizona, there should be plenty of scoring opportunities.

Ryan Roodzant

First-year from Bakersfield, California
MVP of the All-South Sequoia League
in high school
All-League Basketball Player in High School
“We have a very deep team and it should be great competition amongst everyone this year for spots to qualify for tournaments”