BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's golf team tied for 3rd place in a deep 13-team field at the 2024 WWU Invitational held Monday-Tuesday at Bellingham Golf & Country Club.

 

WWU's strong tournament performance in its lone home event of the 2024-25 season was highlighted by a 5-under-par 283 in the second round to move up the leaderboard into the top three. The Vikings concluded the two-day, 54-hole tournament with a 1-under-par 287 to tie perennial regional contenders Colorado Mesa and Chico State for third in the team standings.

 

Defending national champion and No. 1 nationally-ranked Colorado Christian ran away with the team title firing a score of 37-under-par 827 to finish 26 strokes ahead of second-place Simon Fraser (-11, 853). CCU senior Xavier Bighaus won the individual title with a tournament total of 13-under-par 203 for a two-stroke victory over Giulio Zanichelli of Academy of Art.

 

Western sophomore Christopher Zamani fired three under par rounds to place 6th in the 71-player field at 6-under-par 210 (71-69-70) leading the eight Vikings competing in the tournament. Zamani was one of the top players in the field on the BGCC par 5 holes playing at 8-under-par for the tournament. The lefty made a pair of eagles and carded 10 birdies during the tournament.

Junior co-captain Peter Dionne-Yahr continued the solid start to his season tying for 13th place at 2-under-par 214 (71-72-71) and sophomore Nick Ennis played solid tying for 20th place at even-par 216 (73-69-74). Senior co-captain Cole Reynolds contributed an even-par 72 in Tuesday's final round to help the Vikings remain atop the leaderboard. Reynolds and Dionne-Yahr tied for 3rd in the tournament field with 38 pars.

 

"This is always a fun tournament to host and play in and we are thankful to Bellingham Golf & Country club for allowing us this opportunity," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "It was a great field where we got to compete against some great programs. I thought we bounced back well from our last tournament performance and am proud of the guys for how they competed. Christopher (Zamani) had a strong three-round performances showing us what he can do with his talent. Peter (Dionne-Yahr) was steady like he always is for another top 20 performance and Nick (Ennis) played great. This is a good springboard for us to take into our final fall tournaments in a few weeks."

 

The Vikings also had three freshmen play as individuals in the tournament with Michael Killmer (T-62nd), Messiah Gilbert (T-62nd) and Jack Kendrick (T-66th) playing in the two-day, 54-hole tournament.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the 2024 WWU Invitational played on the par 72 course at Bellingham Golf & Country Club. 

 

 

The Vikings will next the next three weeks off before completing the fall season with a pair of tournaments in Hawai'i. The week-long say in Hawai'i begins with the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate held October 21-22 at Mauna Lani Golf Course and the HPU Sharks Invitational October 25-26 at Waikoloa Beach Golf Resort. 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2024-25 fall tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program, in addition to the listing of spring postseason tournaments. 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 25 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season. WWU placed 3rd at the 2013 national championship for the highest finish in program history and made its 10th trip to the National Championship Finals in 2023 placing 15th. The program has produced 16 NCAA All-Americans and has won 11 of 16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 10 of 16 tournaments with Jordan Lee joining the elite list of conference champions in 2023 and nine GNAC Player of the Year awards.