MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's men's golf team is catching fire at the right time as they prepare for the 2025 WCC Golf Championships at Green Valley Country Club in Fairfield. The Gaels have recorded back-to-back top-three finishes in their final two events of the regular season to carry plenty of momentum into the postseason event. Round one coverage starts Friday, April 25th. Additional tournament coverage and information can be found below:

TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

MGOLF | WCC Golf Championships | Fairfield, Calif. | Apr. 25-27
Green Valley CC | 6,497 Yards | Slope: 130 
Live Scoring | Pairings Rd. 1 & Rd. 2 | Tournament Central

STARTING LINEUP

1. Aidan Lee
2. Zack Missigman
3. Connor Reis
4. Go Nakatsukasa
5. Avery Lazarski
Sub: James Williams

GAELS OUTLOOK

Saint Mary's concluded their 2024-25 regular season with ten top-ten's and four top-three's out of their twelve events. They really turned a corner midway through the spring season, bouncing back from their worst team finish of the year in Hawaii with a pair of fifth place finishes at the Lamkin Classic in San Diego and the Duck Invitational in Oregon. After placing outside the top-ten in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, they once again responded with two second place finishes at the Missouri Tiger Intercollegiate and the El Macero Classic. 

Leading the charge individually are veterans Connor Reis and Aidan Lee who are two of three golfers in the team's starting lineup with a sub-72 scoring average on the year. Lee is fresh off of back-to-back top-ten finishes including an 8th place finish at the Missouri Tiger Intercollegiate. Lee has the team's lone individual win of the year back in the fall at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational where he finished the three-round event 13-under-par. Reis put together his best finish of the year weeks earlier at the Tiger Intercollegiate, placing fifth at two-over. 

Also putting together a quality year is graduate senior Zack Missigman. Missigman ranks second on the team with a 71.6 stroke average and will enter tomorrow's tournament in the two spot in the team's starting five. Missigman has been ultra consistent with seven top-25's and has competed in the starting lineup in all twelve events. 

"The team has put a lot of time and practice preparing to play our best at the end of the season and I think you can see that happening with our back to back second place finishes heading into the WCC Championship", said head coach Scott Hardy. "We are focused on keeping that positive momentum going and putting ourselves into to position to compete successfully at Green Valley. The West Coast Conference is ranked as the fifth strongest conference in the country this year so we know it will be very competitive. Our goal is to use good strategy, thinking, and execution to have a chance to compete for the championship on Sunday" (Hardy).

Saint Mary's placed fourth in last year's WCC Championships and will seek their first top-three finish in the postseason event since 2019. The Gaels will also attempt to earn a bid for the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2021. Their last conference championship came in 2016. 

The 10-team field will begin play Friday with two rounds of stroke play. A third round of stroke play is set for Saturday. Following the first three rounds of stroke play, the West Coast Conference will crown an individual champion. The field will be cut to four teams that will advance to match play. The semifinals of match play will be Sunday morning, with the two advancing teams meeting in the match play finals Sunday afternoon.
 
Three West Coast Conference programs are in the top 50 and six are in the top 75 of the latest SCOREBOARD By Clippd national rankings. Pepperdine leads the way at No. 21, followed by San Diego at No. 38 and Santa Clara at No. 45. Pacific is No. 58, LMU is No. 62 and Saint Mary's is No. 72. The Conference has seven of its 10 teams in the top 100, with Oregon State at No. 96.  

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