Sunday, March 24
La Jolla, Calif. (Torrey Pines North)
All Day
Bucknell University
at
UC San Diego Invitational
Men's Golf Heads to Famed Torrey Pines for UCSD Invitational
3/22/2024 9:27:00 PM | Men's Golf
Setting the Scene
What: 2024 UC San Diego Invitational
When: Sunday-Tuesday, March 24-26 (4 p.m. ET shotgun Sunday-Monday; 10 a.m. ET shotgun Tuesday)
Where: Par-72, 7,258-yard Torrey Pines North Course, La Jolla, Calif.
The Field: 17 teams (Bucknell, Air Force, Denver, Fordham, Idaho, Lehigh, North Dakota State, Oklahoma Christian, Seattle, Southern Utah, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UNLV, Utah State, Yale)
Live Scoring: GolfStat
About the Bison
What: 2024 UC San Diego Invitational
When: Sunday-Tuesday, March 24-26 (4 p.m. ET shotgun Sunday-Monday; 10 a.m. ET shotgun Tuesday)
Where: Par-72, 7,258-yard Torrey Pines North Course, La Jolla, Calif.
The Field: 17 teams (Bucknell, Air Force, Denver, Fordham, Idaho, Lehigh, North Dakota State, Oklahoma Christian, Seattle, Southern Utah, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UNLV, Utah State, Yale)
Live Scoring: GolfStat
About the Bison
- Bucknell heads to Southern California and famed Torrey Pines for the Fourth Annual UC San Diego Invitational. The Bison are in the field for the second straight year and will be joined by Lehigh from the Patriot League. Torrey Pines hosted the 2008 and 2021 U.S. Open Championships and has hosted the Farmers Insurance Open annually since 1968.
- Bucknell is in action for the first time in two weeks. The Bison finished T-15th at Appalachian State's tournament at Surf Club in Myrtle Beach.
- Sophomore Andres Barraza is red hot. He has finished in sixth place in each of his last two tournaments. He finished 10-under-par at the Loyola Invitational at the end of February and 45-under at Surf Club. Five of his last six rounds are under par, and the one that wasn't was an even-par 71.
- Barraza's 72.0 spring scoring average is the best on the team, just ahead of freshman Alex Creamean at 72.3. Creamean broke the school record with an 8-under 64 at the Loyola Invitational at Palm Valley CC in Arizona.
- James Robbins, who will play in the No. 2 spot in the lineup this week, posted a final-round 69 in Myrtle Beach. Robbins started his final round on the 14th hole and promptly birdied his first two holes. He then finished his round with four straight birdies, giving him a run of six straight on the scorecard. Robbins also birdied No. 18 and shot a 6-under 29 on the course's back nine.
- Barraza, Robbins, Creamean, Key, and Rudnick will represent the Bison this week, with Jake Maddaloni playing as an individual.
- This is the fourth of five spring tournaments leading up to the 2024 Patriot League Championship, which will be held this year at Saucon Valley Country Club.
- The Bison competed in five fall tournaments, finishing in the top four in four of them while posting an average round of 292.3. Their highest finish was third at the Bucknell Invitational in October, and they finished out the fall campaign with a fourth-place showing at the Veterans Intercollegiate at Sebonack GC on Long Island.
- Creamean capped a tremendous first fall season with a win at the Veterans Intercollegiate. Creamean fired a pair of 2-under-par 70s for a three-shot win, and he became the first freshman in Bucknell history to win a tournament.
- Creamean broke par in five of his last six fall rounds, lowering his season scoring average to 72.076. That was just a fraction of a stroke behind Chris Tanabe (72.066 in 2019) and Blake Wisdom (72.071) for the team record for low average in a fall season. CreSurf Clubamean's mark was the best-ever for a freshman in his first semester of competition.
- The Tritons are hosting this event at Torrey Pines for the second straight year after the first two editions were held at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad.
- Last year's event was a birdie-fest. The Bison made 52 birdies and two eagles, they broke par as a team in all three rounds, and they still finished in a tie for 11th place alongside Hawaii with a 4-under 860.
- Oklahoma Christian, the No. 3 team in Division 2, shot 32-under 832 to hold off Seattle by two shots. Of the 15 teams in the field, 12 finished under par and nine finished double digits under par.
- Blake Wisdom was the low Bison here last year with a 4-under 212 (73-70-69), which was good for T-19th. Barraza (71-73-72) and Rudnick (76-71-75) were the lone Bison in this year's lineup who played the course a year ago.
- Eirick Thomassen of CSUN finished 20-under (68-63-65) to claim medalist honors by six shots over Seattle's Nathan Cogswell.
- Bucknell will be in Sylvania, Ohio for the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate on Apr. 15-16.
Players Mentioned
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