KOHALA COAST, Hawai'i – The Western Washington University men's golf team opened its Hawai'i tournament trip with an even-par team round to tie for 5th place in a deep 19-team field at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate.

 

Making a two-tournament trip to the Big Island to close out the fall schedule, the Vikings carded a 288 score on the par 72 Mauna Lani North Course. Tuesday's final round begins with a 7:30 am HT shotgun start (10:30 am PT) with the Vikings teeing off holes 4-5-6-7 with Colorado Mesa, Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

 

Western was one of six teams to record a team score of par or better in the 19-team field, trailing No. 1 nationally-ranked Colorado Christian (-18, 270), No. 9 Cal State East Bay (-7, 281), No. 20 Cal State Monterey Bay (-4, 284) and Sonoma State (-3, 285). The Vikings are currently in front of No. 11 Colorado Mesa (T-8th) and No. 16 Simon Fraser (T-12th). WWU is listed No. 51 in the Clippd national NCAA II rankings and No. 7 in the West Region heading into this tournament.

 

The Vikings were led once again by junior co-captain Peter Dionne-Yahr after turning in a 3-under-par 69 in the first round. Dionne-Yahr carded seven birdies in his round and played his final 10 holes at 5-under-par to head into the final round in the top 10 in the 106-player field.

 

Sophomore Christopher Zamani is tied for 20th place following his even-par round of 72 and sophomore Nick Ennis is tied for 28th turning in a 1-over-par 73. Freshman Jack Kendrick helped lift the Vikings to the even-par round with a 2-over-par 74 to tie for 41st place.

 

"After a very nervy start to the round the team settled in and played solid golf the rest of the way," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "Peter and Chris both finished with a couple of red numbers on their scorecard, which is always the goal. We'll look to build on their solid play tomorrow in the final round."

Tournament leader Colorado Christian, the defending national champions and the winner of the WWU Invitational earlier this month, has the top four individual players on the leaderboard with Sungyeop Cho, Sangha Park and Ben Fowler all tied for the lead following opening rounds of 6-under-par 66.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard through the first round at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate, a 19-team field playing on the par 72 Mauna Lani North Course:

 

 

The Vikings close out the two-day, 36-hole Dennis Rose Intercollegiate Tuesday with tee times starting at 7:30 am HT/10:30 am PT. WWU will be paired with Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Colorado Mesa on holes 4-5-6-7. The tournament can be followed via the Golfstat Live Leaderboard. WWU remains in Hawai'i playing in the HPU Sharks Shootout Friday-Saturday at Waikoloa Beach Golf Resort.

Here is a look at the Vikings 2024-25 tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. 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.