HPU's Shion Suzuki conquered all challengers at the Tierney with a sizzling -11 tourney. Hawai'i Hilo had the best score of six PacWest squads to earn Team of the Week.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: HPU's Shion Suzuki, Fr., 5-11, Nerima, Japan
HPU freshman Shion Suzuki outshot a stellar field at the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout this week. The first-year Shark from Japan shot a sizzling 66 on the first day and was steady after that with a 71 and 68 for a three-round total of -11. He won the tournament by one shot over Western New Mexico's Amav Arkanath (-10). Suzuki's round of 66 included nine birdies, and he had 15 total birdies in the three rounds. He also had two eagles, six bogies and one double bogey in winning his first collegiate tournament.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans
Hawai'i Hilo topped five other Pacific West Conference competitors at the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout in Alameda this week. In the mini conference preview, the Vulcans finished at +3, 15 shots ahead of nearest conference competitor HPU (+18). UH Hilo's top four golfers were (T-17) Dylan Bercan (Even), (T-21) Jacob Torres (+1), (T-26) Dysen Park (+3) and (T-31) Nicholas Gomez (+4). The defending PacWest champs finished just one shot (+2) behind Western Washington and Stanislaus State.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: The Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout, hosted by CS East Bay, was flush with PacWest teams, all six of them that play men's golf. After Hawai'i Hilo's (8th) finish and HPU's 11th, the other conference teams to follow were Dominican (13), Academy of Art (15), Chaminade (16), and Westmont (17). Dominican's top golfer was (T-22) Sam Nielsen (Even), Academy of Art's (T-26) Giulio Zanichelli (+1), Chaminade's (T-48) Zach Dubouridieu and Jack Yeager (+7) and Westmont's (T-48) Peyton Hedricks (+7).
LOOKING AHEAD: Next week is light in the PacWest schedule with only Westmont slated to play at the Patriot Invitationa at Pebble Beach (hosted by Dallas Baptist). The following week (March 25-26), three squads will be at the Harry Stanislaus Invitational in Turlock--Dominican, Academy of Art and Hawai'i Hilo.
