The Chico State Men’s Golf team emerged victorious at the Wildcat Invitational tournament on Oct. 3 at Butte Creek Country Club.

The Wildcats pulled away from a tie with Sonoma State due to stellar rounds from senior, Tyler Ashman who finished in fifth place, and sophomore, Naoki Easterday who finished in sixth place.

Chico’s “B” team finished in a tie for fourth place, led by senior Giacomo Sorrentino with a 6-under 66 at the par 72 course for the final round. Sorrentino finished third overall individually.

Junior golfer, Dakota Ochoa finished in a tie for 12th, posting 11 birdies through the three rounds.

“It definitely feels more comfortable competing in Chico,” Ashman said. “We get to play a course that we are very comfortable with. It has a more loose vibe to it.”

Head Coach Nick Green was impressed with the improvement of play compared to the Wildcat’s fourth-place finish at the Western Washington Invitational previous tournament.

“I think we putted better for sure. Finally saw some birdies go in, which was helpful. It was probably mostly around the greens that we saw improvement,” Green said. “I know we have a really solid team and we’re capable of putting those kinds of performances out there.”

The Wildcats will now turn their attention to Monterey Bay, as their final tournament of the fall season will take place on Oct. 16 at the Otter Invitational played at Bayonet & Blackhorse Golf Course in Seaside, California.

“Last year nobody on the squad really played well except for Travis [Miller],” said Easterday. “I want to go out there and play well.”

“We need to make sure that we’re prepared going into the tournament,” said Sorrentino. “We need to do everything we can off the course to hope to succeed”.

For more information about Chico State Athletics, you can visit the Wildcats homepage.

Sam Moore can be reached at [email protected]