St. Mary's following WCC victory
(St. Mary's Photo)
DANVILLE, CA (April 20, 2016) – St. Mary's lived up to their preseason hype as the Gaels (839) were a run away freight train, finishing their wire-to-wire win at the 2016 WCC Championship today. 2015 champion Pepperdine (862) was 23-strokes behind in second and BYU (868) was third.
St. Mary's, an astounding 25-under for the tournament, got a big lift from medalist Jonathan De Los Reyes. The senior and two-time conference first teamer pieced together rounds of 64-67-66 on his way to an 11 shot victory. In his 6-under final round De Los Reyes carded his fourth eagle of the tournament, this time on the par-5 11th, and also birdied six holes on the day against only two bogeys.
"The key was staying in the present," said Jonathan De Los Reyes. "Because of that, I didn't get ahead of myself. I was hitting a lot of good shots, repeatedly. That led to being consistent."
Sophomore Perry Cohen (-5) and sophomore Connor Blick (-2) were also top-10 finishers in the individual standings for the Gaels. Cohen was able to place T5 and Blick was in eighth.
Behind De Los Reyes in the medalist standings was San Francisco senior Seb Crookall-Nixon (-8) in second place and Santa Clara sophomore Hayden Shieh (-7) in third.
-St. Mary's athletics contributed to this story
ROUND TWO STORY
Dominant is what St. Mary's (559) has been at the WCC Conference Championship. On a perfect day for golf at Blackhawk Country Club the Gaels extended their first round lead from 13 to 22 shots. Defending champion Pepperdine (581) is in second while BYU (583) is in third. St. Mary's, the preseason favorite in the league, is the only team under-par at 17-under while Pepperdine is 5-over and BYU is 7-over.
Senior Jonathan De Los Reyes (-13) has lead St. Mary's after both days of play. De Los Reyes, a two-time All-WCC first teamer, has paired rounds of 64-67 to surge in front. He also has a very helpful three eagles through the two days.
Yesterday De Los Reyes eagled the par-5 3rd and he did it again today. De Los Reyes also eagled the par-5 5th hole today. He birdied another three and bogeyed two.
De Los Reyes carries a comfortable six-stroke lead into tomorrows final round. San Francisco's Seb Crookall-Nixon (-7) a first team All-WCC golfer himself is in second place.
After Crookall-Nixon the next closest player is De Los Reyes' teammate sophomore Connor Blick (-4) in third. Gaels sophomore Perry Cohen (-1) is in eighth and Hunter Rappleye (+1) is T9.
ROUND ONE RECAP
Impressive to say the least by St. Mary's (273) in the opening round of the WCC Championship at Blackhawk Country Club. As a team the Gaels are an astounding 15-under and lead by 13 shots over Santa Clara (286).
Three players are in the top-10 for St. Mary's and all of them are under-par. In all the Gaels have four players in red figures.
Two-time All-WCC first teamer Jonathan De Los Reyes (-8) bogeyed once on his way to a 64 and leads the rest of the field by three. De Los Reyes, a senior, began on the first and eagled the third before following with his only bogey of the day on the fourth. Following the bogey De Los Reyes was lights out, carding seven birdies to finish off his round.
Also under-par for St. Mary's is sophomore Connor Blick (-4) tied for third, sophomore Perry Cohen (-2) tied for ninth and junior Hunter Rappleye (-1) tied for 14th.
San Diego (288) will begin the second round in third while San Francisco (289) is in fourth and defending champion Pepperdine (290) is in fifth.
ABOUT THE
WCC Championship
54 hole men's collegiate championship of the
West Coast Conference. Team (best four scores out
of
five players each round) and individual competitions.
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