Willamette Finishes Eighth at West Cup, as Kukula Places 15th

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

BEAUMONT, CALIF. -- Willamette University took eighth place out of 15 teams at the prestigious West Cup, as the tournament concluded on Tuesday, March 24 at the Tukwet Canyon Champions Course. University of Redlands (Calif.) earned first place in the team standings.

Ryan Kukula (Sr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS) of Willamette finished 15th on the individual leaderboard with a 54-hole score of 227. After shooting an 82 in the first round, Kukula registered a 73 in the second round and a 72 in the third round. Only five golfers attained lower scores in the the second round and only five earned better scores in the third round.

Redlands led all teams with a score of 936. The Bulldogs were three strokes behind University of La Verne (Calif.) after the first round and still trailed by one stroke after two rounds, but bested the Leopards by four strokes over the final 18 holes. Redlands shot 296-301-295. La Verne finished second at 895 (293-303-229), while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) was third at 896 (304-297-295).

California Lutheran University was fourth at 898 (306-300-302), Southwestern University (Texas) was fifth at 904 (308-295-301), and Trinity University (Texas) placed sixth at 929 (317-306-306). Huntingdon College (Ala.) followed in seventh at 931 (307-318-306), while Willamette was eighth with a score of 936 (317-309-310). Linfield College placed ninth at 951 (321-318-312).

Other team scores were Ferrum College (Va.) in 10th at 959, Occidental College (Calif.) in 11th at 963, Chapman University (Calif.) in 12th at 969, Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) in 13th at 980, Whitman College in 14th at 1006, and George Fox University in 15th at 1010.

Medalist honors were shared by Bobby Holden of Redlands and Alec Spencer of La Verne, who both shot 214 for the tournament. Holden carded 67-77-70, while Spencer shot 71-72-71. John McCord of Redlands took third place at 217 (72-74-71). Jordan Cowart from Southwestern was fourth at 220 (75-69-76).

Two golfers tied for fifth place with scores of 221. They were Kelby Scharmann from La Verne, who carded 71-75-75, and Matt Shuman of CMS , who shot 75-70-76. A total of 78 athletes competed in the tournament.

Kukula was Willamette's top finisher. Peter Mitzel (So., Red Bluff, CA/Red Bluff HS) tied with five golfers for 39th at 237. Mitzel registered three consecutive scores of 79.

Jonathan Ross (Sr., Tukwila, WA/Foster HS) placed 44th at 238 (77-84-77) and Clark Wilson (So., Ocean Park, WA/ Ilwaco HS) was one of two golfers tied for 46th at 241 (79-79-83). Steven Rodriguez (Jr., Red Bluff, CA/Mercy HS) tied for 59th at 248 (88-78-82).

Willamette was one of nine ranked teams to finish in the top 10. Redlands is ranked #4, with La Verne at #21, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at #11, California Lutheran at #34, Southwestern at #10, Trinity at #17, Huntingdon at #20, Willamette at #36 and Ferrum at #29. Linfield, in ninth place, was the only unranked team to finish in the top 10.