DAVIS, Calif. — The UC Davis men's golf team tees off in its return to the course this week, hosting a large field for the 21st edition of The Prestige. The three-day, 27-team event begins on Monday (Feb. 15) and runs through Wednesday (Feb. 17) at the Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST in La Quinta, Calif.
For the second consecutive season, there will also be a second event — The Prestige Individual Tournament — at the nearby Coral Mountain Golf Club that will run concurrently and feature individuals only from various teams.
ON THE TEE…
WHO: UC Davis hosts the 21st annual The Prestige
WHEN: Feb. 15-17, 2021
WHERE: Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST & Coral Mountain Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif.
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Cal Poly, Colorado, Colorado State*, Denver, Iowa State, Long Beach State, Marquette, Nevada, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oklahoma State*, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, SeattleU*, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, USC, Wyoming
(* denotes individuals only)
LIVE SCORING:
• The Prestige:
http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=21240
• The Prestige Individual Tournament:
http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=21239
TOURNAMENT WEBSITE: https://www.prestigepgawest.org/
HOW THEY LINE UP…
The UC Davis lineup looks like this for The Prestige:
Thomas Hutchison,
Lucas Carper,
Jacob Westberg,
Alejandro Nava, and
Mark Stephens.
THE COURSES…
The 21st Annual Prestige will be played at the Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST and will play at Par 71 and 7100 yards. The separate Prestige Individual Tournament will be played at the Coral Mountain Golf Club and will play at Par 72 and 7144 yards. This is the 17th year that PGA WEST will host The Prestige, and the sixth straight year — and 14th time overall — that the tournament will be played on the Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST.
IN THE RANKINGS…
This week's field features nine squads in the top 50 of the Feb. 10 Golfweek team rankings: No. 6 San Diego State, No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 12 Pepperdine, No. 17 SMU, No. 18 Texas Tech, No. 32 North Carolina, No. 34 USC, No. 44 TCU.
A PRESTIGE-OUS HISTORY…
Texas is the defending tournament team champion — its first at The Prestige — while San Diego State's Leo Oyo was last year's individual medalist at 11-under (68-68-66–202)… In all, eight former tournament team champions will be playing at this year's event: Arizona State, California, Northwestern, Oregon, TCU, UCLA, USC, Stanford… UCLA (2003-05) and TCU (2002, 2008-09) are three-time winners, while Stanford (2006, 2014) has won the tournament twice… Stanford has also claimed individual medalist honors five times, followed by TCU (3), UC Davis (2), Washington (2), and Pepperdine (2).
UC Davis has twice finished second at its premier event, the first coming in 2004 behind only UCLA, and the second in 2008 behind TCU… Jason Boyd (2001), Nate Pistacchio (2008), Josh Granger (2011), hold the mark for the lowest score by an Aggie at this event at 6-under, with Pistacchio's score helping him to a share of individual medalist honors… Erik Hill also took home a win at the 2004 event, finishing 1-over for the title… Austin Graham holds the UC Davis and tournament record for the lowest single round at the tournament with a second-round 63 in 2008.
AGGIE STORYLINES…
• UC Davis returns seven letter winners off of last season's squad, while welcoming a pair of talented freshmen to the roster for 2020-21.
• Returner
Thomas Hutchison led the Aggies a season ago with a 71.38 stroke average over 24 rounds in a shortened 2019-20 campaign — ranking fifth on the school's single-season list — finishing a combined 6-under for the year
• Hutchison led the team with eight rounds in the 60s and 12 rounds under par en route to seven top-25 finishes in eight events.
•
Lucas Carper's average of 73.75 in his first collegiate season ranked sixth on the single-season list by a freshman, while teammate
Jacob Westberg's 73.86 was eighth.
• As a team, the Aggies finished in the top 10 three times during a strong fall season in 2019, including a third-place finish in the season opening Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Over 700 student-athletes across 25 intercollegiate athletics teams, following the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.
Centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley, UC Davis is known nationwide as a leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, ranks annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
