KOHALA COAST, Hawai'i – Led by a top 10 finish from senior Denby Carswell and a low team score in the final round, the Western Washington University men's golf team earned a top five finish at the Punahele Jerky Company Invitational played Monday and Tuesday at the Mauna Lani Resort.

 

The No. 16 nationally ranked Vikings fired a final round 8-under-par 280 to tie for the low round on Tuesday, finishing the two-day, 54-hole tournament at 5-under-par 859. WWU was one shot back of fourth place and GNAC rival Simon Fraser (-6, 858). Cal State San Bernardino earned a nine-stoke team win over tournament host Hawai'i Hilo finishing at 24-under-par 840.

 

Carswell carded a bogey-free 5-under-par 67 in the final round to move up to seventh place in the 13-team, 76-player field at 6-under-par 210. The senior transfer from Simon Fraser shot a 1-under-par 71 in the first round and even-par 72 in the second round. 

 

Senior All-American Conrad Brown tied for 24th place at 1-over-par 217 (76-70-71) and sophomores Daniel Blankenburg (73-72-73) and Henry Kippenhan (75-74-69) tied for 28th place at 2-over-par 218. Senior Nick Ennis rounded out the Vikings travel lineup tying for 43rd place at 6-over-par 222 (72-74-76). Brown led the team with 13 birdies in the tournament to tie for sixth-most among the field and Carswell had 12 birdies.

 

"The men struck the ball well from tee to green, but struggled getting putts to go in the first day. Good ball striking continued into the final round and we started seeing putts drop," said assistant coach Kelly Devlin. "Denby Carswell and Henry Kippanban led us in the third round with a 67 and 69, both bogey free. We're very much looking forward to our second tournament in Hawai'i at Waikoloa on Friday and Saturday."

 

Kamron Hopson of Cal State San Bernardino won individual medalist honors finishing at 13-under-par 203 (65-67-71) to earn a two- stroke victory over Tyler Williams of Vanguard (-11, 65-69-71=205).

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the Punahele Jerky Company Invitational:

 

 

The Vikings close out the fall portion of the schedule this weekend competing in the HPU Sharks Shootout (Oct. 30-31) hosted by Hawai'i Pacific. The 2027 spring schedule resumes February 8-9 at the Fujikura Invitational hosted by Cal State San Marcos in Vista, California. The 2026-27 season schedule with tournament results can be viewed at WWUVikings.com/MGolf.

Here is a look at the Vikings 2026-27 fall tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.