By Austin Bazdik (@austinbadzik15):
Fresh off his first career top 5 finish, junior Kevin Velo did it again this past weekend at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational as he shot 14 under par to break 200.This marks the first time since 2014 a San Jose State men’s golfer has broke 200.
Velo was on fire during the first two rounds of tournament as he made 16 birdies. Velo topped off his epic performance by shooting 2-under par in the final round to hold on to second place.
Another Spartan that stood out over the weekend was sophomore Sean Yu. In just his second tournament ever as a Spartan’ Yu shot 5-under par, finishing 14th overall.
Heading into the final round Velo trailed University of California’s junior K.K. Limbhasut by just one stroke. However Velo was unable to catch him, as they both shot a 69 in the final round.
The win for Limhasut is his first on the season. The Berkeley product is no stranger to monster numbers as he has 14 top ten finishes in his career.
The Spartans as a whole held their own through first two days of the tournament shooting 3 under par tied for ninth place. On the final day of the tournament the team had it’s worst day shooting 6-over par dropping to tenth place.
A couple of notable Spartans who struggled were junior Ben Campbell who made his debut shooting 21-over, as well as senior Scott Munger who shot 6-over par finishing 63rd overall.
Despite Velo’s historic weekend, the Spartans had a disappointing weekend as they broke even finishing tenth overall. The team finished three-over par, 287 at the end of the final round.
The University of California ended up running away with the tournament shooting 41 under par. Santa Clara came in second finishing 17 strokes behind the Golden Bears.
The Spartans will look to turn things around as the team heads to the lone star state this Friday to play at the Price’s Give ‘Em Five invitational.