Hawai'i Hilo picked a great time to get hot, right before the PacWest Championships. The Vulcans finished third at the NCAA West Region Spring Preview in Rohnert Park, bettering 18 other teams from across the west. UH Hilo is the Team of the Week, and the Vulcans' Keith Ng is the Player of the Week after finishing fourth with a 3-round score of -4.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
HAWAI'I HILO'S KEITH NG, SR., RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Vulcan senior Keith Ng put together his best rounds of the season at the NCAA West Region Spring Preview, hosted by Sonoma State on April 10-11. The Canadian had rounds of 70-69-73 (212) to finish at -4, four shots behind the leaders.
Ng led after the first two rounds before Matthew Pennington (CS San Marcos) and Jordan Lee (Western Washington) turned in 69's on the final day to finish at -8.
Ng had 12 birdies during the tournament. Ng, a First Team All-PacWest selection in 2022, played at the University of British Columbia before transferring to Hawai'i Hilo.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
HAWAI'I HILO VULCANS
Hawai'i Hilo may be getting hot at just the right time. The Vulcans had the best showing of any PacWest team at the NCAA West Region Spring Preview, finishing third in the 21-team event at the Foxtail Golf Club in Rohnert Park.
The Vulcans finished the two-day, three-round event at +2, only behind No. 26 ranked CS San Marcos (-11) and No. 19 Sonoma State (-1). Hawai'i Hilo finished ahead of No. 21 Western Washington (+3), No. 17 Cameron (+5) and No. 13 Midwestern State (+8).
In addition to Keith Ng's third-place finish (see above), Junsu Im tied for 14th at +3, Andrew Otani was +5 and Dustin Franko finished at +7. Junso, a freshman, had a 68 on the first day.
Hawai'i Hilo, who tied HPU last season at the 2022 PacWest Championships (but lost to the Sharks in a playoff), now come into the 2023 tournament as one of the favorites.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: In the final regular season golf tournament of the year (West Region Preview), Holy Names finished in tenth place. Edvin Backstrom was the Hawks' top scorer with better rounds each day at 75-73-69 (+1)…HPU and Dominican tied for 16th, with Kelii Dudoit leading the Sharks (+7) and Sam Nielsen pacing the Penguins with the same score…Academy of Art was 18th, with Giulio Zanichelli leading the way at +3, tied for 24th.
NCAA WEST REGION RANKINGS: In the latest NCAA Division II Rankings (April 12), there are five teams in the West Region in the national Top 20. Here is the list, with teams vying for team spots in the NCAA II Super Regional, set for May 11-13 in Rohnert Park (Foxtail GC). The PacWest champion gets an automatic berth. (10) Sonoma State, (12) CS San Marcos, (14) Western Washington, (19) Colorado State-Pueblo, (20) Colorado Christian.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Pacific West Conference Men's Golf Championships are next, April 17-19 in Litchfield Park, Arizona at the Wigwam GC. As mentioned above, HPU is the defending champion, but a different champion was crowned each year before that, dating back to 2017. In 2021 it was Academy of Art (there wasn't a tournament in 2020), in 2019 it was Holy Names, 2018 Dixie State and in 2017 the champ was BYU Hawai'i.
