The UC Santa Barbara men's golf team prepares to host the Ogio-Pacific Coast Intercollegiate at the Alisal River Course in Solvang, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday, April 2-3. The 54-hole tournament on the par 72, 6,830-yard course features an 18-team field.
Rain foiled last year's attempt to play the PCI at Rancho San Marcos. This is the first time that the tournament will be played at the Alisal River Course. In addition to UCSB, the tournament includes Big West rivals Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Pacific. Other schools participating include Washington State, Oregon State, New Mexico State, Idaho, San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, San Diego, Denver, Sacramento State and Cal State Bakersfield.
UC Davis, which joins the Big West for the start of the 2007-08 season, has won the last two PCI titles but is not competing at this year's tournament. The PCI is a preview of the 2007 Big West Golf Championships, which will be played on Monday and Tuesday, April 23-24, at Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
Three men's schools will play in a second tournament this week as Cal Poly hosts the 17-team Cuesta Title Intercollegiate on Thursday and Friday. The Mustangs have won the title once in the five-year history of the event, accomplishing that in 2003. UC Riverside, one of the competing Big West schools, won the inaugural event in 2002. Saint Mary's was the champion in 2004, San Diego in 2005 and Cal State Bakersfield in 2006. Cal State Bakersfield returns to defend its title this year. The field also includes Big West member Cal State Northridge.
In the latest Golfweek Men's Team Ratings, UC Irvine leads all Big West schools at No. 37 with a team scoring average of 72.04. UC Santa Barbara is second on the list at No. 77 (72.92).
The UC Irvine women won their own Anteater Invitational for the third time in school history, winning by 30 strokes over second place San Jose State. It was the 10th title in program history, as the Anteaters shot a 54-hole total of 909. UCI junior Selaneé Henderson took home her second consecutive tournament victory after carding a 216 (69-72-75). She won the Spartan Invitational earlier this month. Henderson, who is the program's all-time leader in tournament titles with five, became just the second UCI golfer to win back-to-back events. Cal State Northridge finished ninth, UC Riverside 10th and Cal Poly 12th as other competing Big West schools in the 15-team tournament that concluded on Tuesday.
It's light action among the Big West women's golf teams the remainder of the week. However, it will be a stiff test for the one competing team this weekend - Long Beach State. The 49ers head to the PING/ASU Invitational at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. The 17-team field includes 10 teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. The tournament runs from Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1. LBSU finished in 12th place last year at the PING/ASU Invite with a three-day total of 924.
UCI leads all Big West women's schools in the Golfweek Women's Team Ratings at No. 34 with a 75.00 team scoring average. LBSU is second at No. 60 (76.21). UCI returns to action on Monday, April 2 when it travels to the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George, Utah.