Hannah Burton
Staff Writer
The golf team competed in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No. 2 match on Saturday and Sunday, at the Empire Lakes Golf Course in Rancho Cucamonga.
The team has earned SCIAC’s No. 1 spot just ahead of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
CMS is just one shot behind the Leopards for the top spot in the conference standings.
La Verne placed first in the tournament with an overall score of 568. This placed the Leopards just ahead of CMS. The Stags shot a 579 overall.
In the first round of the competition, the men started off strong, shooting 277, 11 shots under par.
Freshman Alec Spencer and junior Michael Bonicatto both shot 78. Senior Keven Holliday shot a 72.
Senior Paul Gomez and junior Andre Bedard shot a 70.
“I had a really poor start today, so it took a lot to come back from that,” Bedard said.
Learning to accept the course conditions for how they were, Bedard accomplished a career best on Saturday.
“The highlight for me was I made seven birdies,” Bedard said.
Junior Kelby Scharmann ended his first round with an incredible score of 65.
He was seven under par.
“I shot my best round ever and played really smart,” Scharmann said.
With a goal to make a historic comeback, he looks forward to traveling to nationals.
“We want to build up the success we had today,” head coach Chris Davis said.
The men played against seven highly recognized teams.
Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Whittier, Occidental, Chapman, Cal Lutheran and Redlands all participated in the SCIAC tournament.
“I just love competition,” Davis said.
On Sunday, the team ended the second round of the tournament at 291.
Holliday and Bonicatto improved by two, shooting 70 and 76.
Gomez shot 80, an unfortunate eight over par.
Bedard and Scharmann finished at 77 and 73, respectively.
Spencer ended his round at an even par of 72.
Three of the men also placed in the top 10 of the tournament.
Scharmann came in first.
Holliday placed fourth and Bedard placed sixth.
The team will compete next in the Baldy View Shootout hosted by CMS on Saturday at Upland Hills Golf Course.
This will be the team’s final match before the SCIAC Championships.
Hannah Burton can be reached at hannah.burton@laverne.edu.
