The famous 16th green at Pasatiempo Golf Club
It takes place every April on an Alister MacKenzie-designed course, awards a jacket to the winner, is nationally-televised and its past champions list reads like a who’s who in golf.
Nope, not
that tournament, but if you guessed the
Western Intercollegiate held at
Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, make yourself a pimento cheese sandwich anyway.
First played in 1947, the Western Intercollegiate is one of the longest-running tournaments in collegiate golf. Major champions Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller and Mark O’Meara have claimed individual titles, as have former PGA TOUR players Jerry Heard, Howard Twitty, Peter Jacobson, Mark Lye, Bobby Clampett, Jay Don Blake, Duffy Waldorf and Arron Oberholser, along with current Tour stars Patrick Rogers, Maverick McNealy and Scottie Scheffler.
Though he has a closet full of green jackets, the coveted blue jacket that is awarded to the winner of the Western eluded Stanford product Tiger Woods, who was outdueled by Oberholser in 1996 when the San Jose State junior made two back nine eagles en route to a final round 64 and medalist honors. Three-time major champion Jordan Spieth also came up short in his quest to don the blue jacket in his only visit to Pasatiempo in 2012.
“The Western has long been one of the premier tournaments in the nation and we’ve worked hard to uphold its tradition of excellence,” said San Jose State head coach John Kennaday. “The golf course is beyond reproach and the year-in and year-out, the fields have been fantastic.
“It’s the whole package that leaves a lifetime of memories for all of those who have been fortunate to play in it over the years.”
After a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Western Intercollegiate returns on Monday with a 14-team field which includes 7th-ranked Pepperdine, No. 19 Arizona and No. 23 San Diego State. Recent NCAA champions California, Oregon and Stanford are also in the field along with BYU, UC Irvine, Colorado State, Hawai’i, USC, UTEP, Washington and the host Spartans. Teams will consist of six players with the five best scores counting towards the team total.
Joey Vrzich of Pepperdine is the highest-rated individual in the field, checking in at 19th in the latest Golfstat rankings, while Wave teammate
Dylan Menante, who lost in a playoff last weekend at the Augusta Haskins Invitational, is rated 40th. Stanford’s
Barclay Brown, a native of Hallamshire, England who will be competing for the Great Britain & Ireland squad in the upcoming Walker Cup matches, is coming off a win at the Cowboy Classic last weekend in Chandler, Ariz. San Jose State senior
Sean Yu looks to regain his form of two years ago when he finished at 8-under 202 only to lose a five-hole playoff to Stanford’s
Isaiah Salinda.
Related: With Salinda in the lead, Stanford wins Western Intercollegiate
Isaiah Salinda won the last blue jacket in 2019Continuing with its commitment to collegiate golf, Golf Channel will provide three hours of daily live coverage beginning at 4:00 p.m. PT on Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday’s final round coverage beginning at 1:00 p.m. PT.
“Golf Channel has been a fantastic partner not only to the Western but to collegiate golf in general,” said Kennaday, who was instrumental in cementing the partnership. “The exposure helps build a stronger foundation for youth golf by promoting an avenue for greatness. Golf Channel clearly see the potential and value in airing collegiate events and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more televised tournaments in the near future.”
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Scoring
While the teams and players have come and gone over the years, the one constant link to the Western has been the venue, Pastatiempo Golf Club. Nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains overlooking the nearby Monterey Bay, renowned architect Alister MacKenzie considered Pastatiempo his favorite layout, ahead of Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne. A lengthy restoration project which was headed up by Tom Doak returned many of MacKenzie’s original features to the course, which opened for play in 1929 with a mixed exhibition between Marion Hollins, Bobby Jones, Glenna Collett and Cyril Tolley. MacKenzie’s home still stands adjacent to the sixth fairway and upon his passing in 1934, his ashes were scattered throughout the course, making Pasatiempo one of the unique spiritual meccas in all of golf.
ABOUT THE
Western Intercollegiate
54-hole men's college tournament hosted by
San Jose State University. “The Western” is
one
of the most highly recognized national
collegiate
tournaments, conducted since 1946
Pasatiempo
Golf Club; a historic venue where a player’s
talent
is always well-tested. Pasatiempo perennially
ranks among the best by all of the major golf
publications.
The format is slightly different than most college
events. Six-player teams take the best five scores
each round to determine the team score.
View Complete Tournament Information