WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i – Western Washington University sophomore Aidan Thain capped his fall season with a 3^rd-place finish at the 2019 Dennis Rose Intercollegiate played over the last three days at Waikoloa Kings' Course on The Big Island.

 

Thain's top five finish helped lift the WWU Men's Golf team into a tie for 4^th place in the 16-team tournament, with the Vikings finishing at 21-over-par 885. Western turned in a final-round score of 3-over-par 291 for the team's best performance of the three-day tournament.

 

WWU completed the fall portion of the 2019-20 schedule with its third top-five team finish out of the five-tournament slate. The Vikings opened the final round in 6^th place, but moved up two spots on the leaderboard with the third-best team performance of the third round.

 

"I think the team is getting closer and showed some signs of what they are fully capable of," added Bennett. "I feel as a team we are moving in the right direction and will look to make improvements when we roll over to the spring season. We had a couple of rough starts to rounds this week, but they battled and never gave up."

 

Thain, a redshirt sophomore out of Sammamish High School in Bellevue, completed the 54-hole tournament at 3-under-par 213. The lefty improved with each of his rounds, shooting even-par 72 on Monday, 1-under-par 71 on Tuesday and a 2-under-par 70 in the final round. He finished the tournament with 11 birdies and one eagle.

 

"Aidan had a very solid tournament. It seemed as though he was due to put three rounds together and he did just that here in Hawai'i," said WWU head coach Luke Bennett. "It was nice to see him finish the fall on a high point, giving him a lot of momentum and confidence heading into the spring season."

 

Senior Ethan Casto wrapped up his solid fall tying for 24^th place at 8-over-par 224 (75-75-74), and tied for 2^nd in the 87-player field with 12 birdies. Junior Brody Bonfilio tied with Casto for 24^th place, playing his final two rounds of the tournament at 2-under-par.

 

"Ethan had a really solid fall and look forward to seeing how he finishes off his collegiate career in the spring," said Bennett.

 

Sophomore Jordan Lee tied for 34^th place at 10-over-par 226, capping his fall with a 1-over-par 73 in the final round.

 

The Vikings are scheduled to play four spring tournaments before the GNAC Championships and a hopeful trip to the NCAA Division II Regional Championships. WWU is back in action February 24-25 at the Bay Area Invitational hosted by Holy Names University at The Club at Ruby Hill in Pleasanton, California.

 

Here is a look at the final WWU and team results from the 2019 Dennis Rose Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Hawai'i Hilo on the par 72 Waikoloa King's Course.

 

 

Fans can follow the WWU Men's Golf program online at WWUVikings.com/MGolf, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUGolf), Instagram (@wwugolf) and Facebook (@WWUMGolf).

 

The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 21 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, including a 3^rd-place finish at the 2013 national championship. The program has produced 17 All-Americans and has won 9 of 12 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008, including the 2019 title. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 8 of 12 tournaments, including 2018 champion Ethan Casto and 2019 champion Brody Bonfilio.