On both the men’s and women’s leaderboards at the end of the Big West Conference Golf Championship, a Long Beach State golfer’s name was at the top.
Senior Brett Lederer took the lead after the first round of the Big West Conference Championships and never looked back, eventually winning the individual men’s Big West Golf title at the Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Rancho Santa Margarita Tuesday afternoon.
“[Lederer] has probably been our best golfer since he has been here,” said LBSU head coach Bob Livingston. “He bogeyed 13, and was only leading by two, and then birdied 14, 15 and 16 to win the tournament. It was a great performance.”
For the women, junior Kay Hoey, who is ranked No. 13 in the country, came into the final round five shots behind the leader, UC Irvine’s Patty Chawalitmetha. But Hoey shot a 1-under 71 in the final round, and Chawalitmetha shot a 77, as Hoey won the title by a single shot.
It was the first time since 2002, and only the fifth time ever, that a school won the individual championships for both the men and women.
LBSU, as a team, didn’t fair as well as Lederer and Hoey.
The men finished in fifth place, shooting an 878 as a team.
To go with Lederer’s 204 (65-70-69), Michael Drake recovered from a bad opening round to shoot a respectable 224 (81-73-70) and Ryan Wood shot a 226 (72-77-77).
UC Irvine won the men’s team championship, shooting an 852 over the three-round tournament.
“We had a very bad first round,” Livingston said. “Irvine had a 24-shot lead on us and it was too much for us to come back from.”
The women faired better, finishing in second place in the team tournament. The 49ers shot a 920 as a team, while UC Irvine shot an 892, to sweep the men’s and women’s team titles.
Along with Hoey’s 215 (71-73-71), Beth Holterman finished in sixth place shooting a 230 (75-78-77) and Brenda Chhuor shot a 232 (79-74-79) to finish in eight place.
