Men’s golf tee off for 2022-2023

The golf team travels to the USF Intercollegiate tournament

TAYLOR NIELSEN / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

The University of San Diego men’s golf team packed their golf clubs for northern California to compete in their first tournament of the 2022-2023 season. The multi-day USF Intercollegiate tournament took place from Sept. 12-13 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. 

This was the first tournament since the 2018-2019 season that teams returned to this course to compete in USF’s anticipated tournament.  

A total of 10 teams were invited to compete, bringing in a final count of 57 players, who went head-to-head to make an early season statement. 

USD’s starting lineup included six players: Andi Xu, Kelvin Si, Carson Enright, Kevin An, Harrison Kingsley and Evan Kawai. 

As a team, the USD Toreros became the underdogs of the tournament after finishing tied for ninth, with the University of Mary, California, at the end of day one. 

USD junior Andi Xu quickly became a player to watch at the USF Intercollegiate. He finished day one in the top 20, at No. 12. 

Xu exceeded his own expectations for day two. Not only did he break into the top 10, but he finished in second, only four strokes behind University of Nevada’s golfer, Peyton Callens. 

For one round, the par for this course was set at 71. The tournament scores totaled three rounds together, for a total par for the three rounds of play set at 203. 

Xu finished the tournament with a three-round total of 208, which was five-under par. His three rounds were scored separately at 69-74-66. 

His second place finish marked a record for the program and matched closely with a record Xu set himself. The last time a golfer from USD finished that high was in the spring, when Xu took home first place at a tournament at Riverside Country Club. 

The rest of the team followed Xu in standings. USD junior Kelvin Si finished in the top 20 and tied for 17th with USF’s Benjamin Partridge. He finished two-over par with his three rounds totaling out to 215. His final two rounds were one-under par and at par, which separated out to three round scores of 74-70-71. 

Carson Enright, a transfer student from Oregon State, finished 36th out of the 57 players in his first tournament as a Torero. 

He tied with three other players in that position. Enright  ended the tournament at nine-over par with a final score of 222. His rounds showed improvement, and he finished his last round two-under par (74-79-69). 

Kevin An came six positions behind Enright and tied at 43rd with five other players. His three rounds totaled out to 225, 12 over par (78-72-75). 

Harrison Kingsley ended the tournament in 49th, with a total of 226: 13 over par. His three rounds produced steady scores that separated into 76-75-75. 

Evan Kawai tied with Harry Brown from USF in 57th. He finished 19 overpar at 232 with improving round scores of 79-80-73. 

Collectively, the USD golf team did not improve their day – one standing. They closed the tournament out in ninth place. 

The men’s golf team only has four tournaments scheduled for their fall season. Their next tee off will take place Sept. 23-24 at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate tournament at the University of New Mexico’s Championship Golf Course.