BYUH gets ‘sweet’ closing win

Given a choice between describing their first, and last, PacWest Men’s Golf championship as “sweet” or “bittersweet” Wednesday, Brigham Young-Hawaii unanimously chose “sweet.”

The Seasiders stood together with dazed smiles after holding off Cal Baptist by three shots to win at Turtle Bay Fazio. It is their home course and this was their swan song in Hawaii, with BYUH closing its athletics program at the end of the semester.

“So anyway,” said Bob Owan, the Seasiders’ coach for nearly 30 years, “it’s been a great, great many years of this program.”

Nicolas Herrera clinched the victory with an eagle and two birdies over the final six holes. The senior from Cali, Colombia, fired a final-round 66 to finish with a share of second at 14-under 202.

“The key this year is we help each other a lot and care about each other,” Herrera said. “We started playing more as a team and winning as a team. That helped us to play good as individuals as well.”

Owan, BYU-Hawaii’s 68-year-old Director of Materials Management, coached the Seasiders to a seventh-place finish at the 1984 NAIA National Championships.

That team featured Castle High grad Dean Wilson, who would find future success in Japan and on the PGA Tour. Roberto Herrera, Nicolas’ uncle, was his teammate.

The Colombian connection was born that year, even as BYUH ended its golf program for the first time. The sport would return in the ’90s, and finally find its way back to nationals last year.

Behind PacWest Player of the Year Brent Grant, the Seasiders were 12th in NCAA Division II. Grant is now a pro, and five close-knit Seasiders are seeking more.

Jacob Godfrey, a sophomore from Utah, finished sixth Wednesday at 70—207. Teammates Federico Clausent (T12), Dalton Stanger (T15) and Alex Stulce (T22) all were inside the top 25.

Clausent, also from Colombia, will graduate with Herrera and Stulce this semester.

“Jake and Dalton will go to another school,” Owan says. “They knew they needed to do that since the program was closing. They can go anytime they want to and be eligible next year. Both will do well for any school they go to.”

But for the next few weeks, their focus will be on BYUH, which clinched a regional berth with the championship. The country’s 11th-ranked D-II team pulled into first Tuesday with a 10-under 278, two shots ahead of Holy Names.

Dixie State, which won the last two PacWest titles with Kamehameha’s Donny Hoopoi, made an early final-round charge. But Cal Baptist was the clubhouse leader at 16 under as BYUH played its final three holes.

The Seasiders hung on, finishing at 19-under 845. Greg Gonzalez, a junior for 16th-ranked Cal Baptist, closed with back-to-back 66s to earn medalist honors at 16 under.

Owan’s goals this regular season were to win a tournament on the mainland — BYUH won two — and capture the conference. Next is a successful regional, which would lead to the nationals, and who knows what for a team that has saved its best for last.

“It’s chemistry really, because it’s so hard to recruit for an LDS school,” he says. “You have to find the right personalities to fit.

“It’s really healthy to have that kind of teamwork the last two years, and this year has really been special because they get along so well. Even without Brent we have a solid five, they all can shoot really well and complement each other. It’s a better team to me.”

To his players as well.

“We leaned on each other and had confidence in our teammates,” Godfrey said. “That they were going to come through and play good as a team.”

Chaminade, behind Michael Milton’s ninth-place finish, tied for sixth with University of Hawaii Hilo, which has won three PacWest titles since 2008. Hawaii Pacific was eighth in the 10-team field.

Ninth-ranked Cal Baptist won the eight-team women’s championship with a total of 929. It was led by freshman Samantha Martirez, the medalist with a 227.

Hawaii Pacific was fourth, with Mint Chimsuti finishing second individually at 76—229. Hilo took seventh. The Vulcans won the 2014 PacWest championship, behind medalist Kristen Sawada.