SANTA CRUZ — Some of the biggest talents in NCAA Division I golf return to Pasatiempo Golf Club for the 77th Western Intercollegiate, which runs Monday through Wednesday.
The greens on front nine of the will look and play substantially different than many players and coaches last remember.
Architect Jim Urbina and Pasatiempo superintendent Justin Mandon have completed the first half of an 18-month-long restoration project to return the greens to the condition of the original designs of Dr. Alister MacKenzie. Renovation on the back nine will begin shortly after the tournament concludes.
“It’s amazing,” said John Kennaday, the head coach at San Jose State University, the tournament host. “Fantastic. Ninety-five years of wear and tear and erosion really took its toll. They tore down every green and got down to the original sand the good doctor laid out.”
The changes has been massive, Kennaday said, throwing massive kudos to Urbina and Mandon. He said the number of viable pin placements on each hole on the front nine has increased substantially.
“On (hole) number three, there’s a back left of the green that we’ve never seen,” Kennaday said. “And there used to be one and a half spots that were playable (for pin placement) on number eight, and now I have nine. It really changes the golf course.”
Play begins at 8:34 a.m. each day and the last tee time takes place at 1:34 p.m., which will leave the final groups finishing around 7 p.m.
Precipitation over the weekend should leave greens receptive and in excellent scoring condition. Winds will test golfers, though.
“You never know until the moment,” said Kennaday, of the weather. “We’re going to see some low scores and some high scores. We’re going to see it all because it’s Pasatiempo.”
Five teams in the 14-team event are ranked in the top 25 clippd.com national rankings: No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Arizona
No. 17 Texas, the 2022 champion, which returns after a year hiatus, No. 21 Cal, and No. 25 Oregon headline the entries.
No. 35 San Diego State, No. 38 Stanford, No. 41 BYU, No. 42 Tennessee Chattanooga, No. 50 UNLV, No. 51 Pepperdine, the defending champion and winner of two of the past three Intercollegiates, No. 52 San José State, No. 154 Hawaii, and No. 164 UC Irvine round out the field.
Seven players ranked in the top 50 will also be competing. They include: No. 3 Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford, who is also No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, No. 15 Tiger Christensen and No. 39 Filip Jakubcik of Arizona, No. 17 Taehoon Song and No. 19 Petr Hruby of Washington, No. 34 Karl Vilips of Stanford, and No. 37 Christiaan Maas of Texas.
“Thorbjornsen is pretty good,” said Kennaday, noting that the Stanford star is battling a tender back. “He’s not the healthiest, but he’s pretty good.”
SJSU counts Pasatiempo as one of its home courses and had played three to four rounds at the course. Carl Corpus (70.71 scoring average), Ivan Barahona (70.86), Caleb Shetler (70.88), Zubair Firdaus (71.57), and Kristopher Stiles (72.72) have been in the Spartans starting lineup most often this year, and Kennaday hopes they can make some noise over the next three days.
“We could present an issue up there,” the coach said.
77th Western Intercollegiate
When: Monday-Wednesday, tee times, 8:34 a.m.-1:34 p.m.
Where: Pasatiempo Golf Club, Santa Cruz
Admission: Free
TV: Golf Channel and Peacock, Monday, 4-7 p.m. (live)
