ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Western Washington University men's golf team had one goal in mind entering the final round of the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout … Win the Day. 

 

And that is exactly what the Vikings did tying for the lowest team score of Tuesday's final round at Corica Park South Course finishing with a 6-under-par 282 to move up three spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 6th place in the 17-team field.

 

WWU completed the two-day, 54-hole tournament with a team score of 2-over-par 866.

 

"We started on the toughest holes in the toughest conditions, but the guys navigated the early part of the round to perfection and took advantage of the other parts of the course with a lot of birdie opportunities," said assistant coach Steve Card, who recently retired as WWU's Director of Athletics and is a GCAA Hall of Famer. "The way we finished was really impressive. Some pretty clean scorecards and a lot of birdies to finish."

 

The Vikings final-round 6-under-par 282 featured 17 birdies, led by five from Peter Dionne-Yahrand four each from Braxton McDonald and Matteo Polla.

 

"We talked prior to the round and the goal was to win the day, and they did exactly that tying for the team low round," said Card. "That moved us up the leaderboard and the critical thing is we beat some opponents we needed to beat to help strengthen our bid for another trip to regionals."

 

Polla carded his second consecutive round under par with a 3-under-par 69 to move into a tie for 17th place in the 99-player field finishing at 2-under-par 214. 

 

Dionne-Yahr shot an even-par 72 Tuesday to finish tied for 26th at 1-over-par 217 and Seth King turned in another consistent round with an even-par 72 for a tournament total of 2-over-par 218. Reigning GNAC Player of the Week Braxton McDonald carded a 3-under-par 69 in the final round to move into a tie for 52nd place at 8-over-par 224 and Cole Reynolds was also tied for 52nd.

 

"I think this team is primed for a really strong finish to the season. They will continue to get better as the spring progresses. You want to peak in May and they are on their way," added Card, who was WWU's head golf coach for 20 years from 1993-2013. "It was a privilege to be out there with the team and helping Luke (Bennett) out. What an incredible group of young men."

 

Western New Mexico recorded a 16 stroke victory for the team title finishing at 28-under-par 835 with tournament host Cal State East Bay earning runner-up honors at 12-under-par 852 on one of its home courses. 

 

Shion Suzuki of Hawai'i Pacific (-11, 205) edged out Arnav Arkanath of Western New Mexico (-10, 206) for individual medalist honors.

 

WWU returns to tournament action March 25-26 at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational at Turlock Golf & Country Club in Turlock, California. The Vikings are the two-time defending champions at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational, winning the tournament in 2022 and 2023.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout hosted by Cal State East Bay at Corica Park South Course.

 

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2023-24 tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.