BROOKS — The California Collegiate Athletic Association held its season-ending league championship early last week at the Yocha de He Golf Course at the Cache Creek Resort in Brooks where former Kelseyville High School standout Matt Wotherspoon, now competing for Cal State San Bernardino, was in action.
The CCAA is a NCAA Division II league of state-affiliated schools. Eight of the 12 schools in the league offer golfing programs, including Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State San Marcos, Chico State, Stanislaus State, and Sonoma State. The 54-hole tournament would not only determine the 2022 league champion but also the league’s representative at the NCAA Division II Men’s Super Regional at Pueblo Country Club in Colorado early next month.
Monday at Yocha de He was contested under trying conditions with fierce and gusting winds topping 40 miles per hours. Many drives that started up the middle of fairways caught the westerly winds, forcing the ball offline into the adjacent water hazard some 25-30 yards away. Scores on Tuesday and Wednesday were much more reasonable as the winds dissipated on a difficult course that has hosted United States Open Qualifying in past years.
Sonoma State University of Rohnert Park won the team title and will advance Colorado next month after carding rounds of 297-295-293 for a 21-over-par aggregate total of 885 (low four individual scores out of five). Sonoma State was the only team to break 300 during first-round play and the Seawolves’ early first-round lead was more than enough to secure the league title two days later.
In second place was Chico State University with a three-round (314-293-288) total of 31-over-par 895. Third place went to Cal State San Marcos University with a 33-over-par total of 897 (317-289-291).
The individual medalist was Matthew Pennington of Cal State San Marcos. He recorded scores of 75-67-72 for a 2-under-par total of 214. Griffin Pace of Sonoma State was four strokes back following rounds of 76-72-70 for a 2-over-par 218 total. Tied with Pace was Simon Bjorken of Cal State Monterey Bay with rounds of 83-64-71. Dakota Ochoa of Chico State finished in solo fourth place after carding scores of 76-70-73 for a 219 total.
Wotherspoon finished in 35th place with a 23-over-par total of 239 (88-76-75). San Bernardino finished last in the team standings with a 927 aggregate total (329-295-303). Wotherspoon recorded the third lowest total among his San Bernardino teammates.
It was a disappointing season finale for San Bernardino. This past October the team won the Otter Invitational hosted by Cal State Monterey Bay at the Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Courses at Fort Ord, followed by a third-place finish at the Dennis Rose Invitational at Kona, Hawaii, the next week. The team also had a second-place finish in early March at the Poppy Ridge Invitational in Livermore.
Wotherspoon still has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.
