WAHIAWA, Hawai'i – The Western Washington University men's golf team opened its trip to Hawai'i with a solid first-round performance at the Southwest Airlines HPU Sharks Shootout at Leilehua Golf Course.

 

The Vikings, ranked No. 6 in the Golfstat.com NCAA Division II Relative Team Rankings, shot an opening round team score of 4-over-par 292 on the Par 72, 7,019-yard layout. WWU is in the middle of the pack of the 16-team field that features 11 teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation. WWU is tied with Hawai'i Hilo and Cal State San Bernardino in the seventh spot on the leaderboard, two strokes back of sixth-place Saint Martin's and three back of the top five in the team standings.

 

Sophomore Ryan Ho continues his hot start to the season firing a 3-under-par 69, which included five birdies and playing his final eight holes at 4-under-par. Sophomore Seth King is tied for 30th at 1-over-par 73 and freshman Peter Dionne-Yahr and junior Drew Halili are tied for 50th in the 90-player field at 3-over-par 75.

 

Tyler Ashman of Chico State University holds the lead for individual medalist honors with an opening-round 5-under-par 67, holding a one-stroke lead over Matthew Pennington of Cal State San Marcos.

 

Chico State holds the team lead following a 9-under-par round of 279 for a five-stroke lead over Stanislaus State (-4, 284).

 

Wednesday's final round begins with a 7:30 am shotgun start (Hawai'i time) with the Vikings teeing off holes 6-7-8-9-10 and paired with Cal State Monterey Bay, Saint Martin's and Hawai'i Hilo. The final round can be tracked via the Golfstat.com Live Leaderboard at wwuvikings.com/MG_Live. 

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard following Tuesday's first round of the Southwest Airlines HPU Sharks Shootout at Leilehua Golf Course in Wahiawa, Hawai'i:

 

 

Here is a look at the 2022-23 fall portion of the schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program, in addition to the 2023 postseason schedule. The spring tournament schedule will be finalized later this fall. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.

 

 

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 23 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, which includes this season after earning the automatic bid from winning the GNAC Championships. WWU placed 3rd at the 2013 national championship for the highest finish in program history. The program has produced 16 NCAA All-Americans and has won 10 of 14 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008, including the 2022 title. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in nine of 14 tournaments with Aidan Thain joining the long list of conference champions in 2022 and nine GNAC Player of the Year awards.