INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's golf team dropped a tiebreaker to Sacramento State to finish fourth at the Wyoming World Match Play tournament Tuesday at Indian Wells Golf Resort.
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The Anteaters and Hornets closed out the afternoon with three victories each, but Sac State held the tiebreaker by virtue of winning more holes in the match.
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At the top of the lineup, senior
Darien Zhao earned a 1-up victory over Zach Mate. Zhao lost the first two holes before bouncing back with wins on the 6th, 7th and 9th to take his first lead. The two went back-and-forth and were all square after 16. Zhao then birdied the 17th and played the 18th even to secure the win.
Freshman
Jason Tang never trailed in a 3&1 win over Jeffrey Perry at the second position. Tang won the first hole, and after Perry tied it up on the third, he came out on top at Nos. 4, 6 and 9 to make the turn at 3-up. Perry cut the lead to two on the 16th but Tang responded by winning the 17th to clinch the victory.
Tang went 3-0 in the tournament, while Zhao was also unbeaten at 2-0-1.
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Sophomore
Rei Harashima rallied for a 2-up triumph over Gabriel Smith. Harashima faced a two-hole deficit with five remaining but responded with three-straight wins at Nos. 14, 15 and 16. After both players came in at par on the 17th, Harashima won the 18th.
Junior
Kevin McGough dropped a narrow 1-up decision to Zach Matzke.
Jin Nakao also came up short against Jake Aberle by a 3&2 score and
Yaoting Zou fell to Luke Dugger, 4&3.
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UCI will be back in action, March 24-26, when it heads to Torrey Pines Golf Course for the UC San Diego Invitational.