Big West Championships
Dates: April 28-30 (Sunday-Tuesday)
Location: La Quinta Country Club - La Quinta, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's golf team makes its way to La Quinta, California, for the 2024 Big West Championships, April 28-30. The three-day tournament will be contested at La Quinta Country Club for the fourth year in a row. Eighteen holes are scheduled for each day. 

The seventh-seeded Anteaters are slated to open the Big West Championships alongside No. 8 UC Santa Barbara and No. 9 UC Riverside in Sunday's first round with their tee times starting at 11:40 a.m. No. 1 Long Beach State, No. 2 Cal State Fullerton and No. 3 Cal Poly will kick things off at 10 a.m., while No. 4 CSUN, No. 5 UC Davis and No. 6 Hawai'i are scheduled for a 10:50 a.m. start.

UCI's 5-count-4 lineup includes Darien Zhao, Jason Tang, Rei Harashima, Yaoting Zou and Jin Nakao.

BIG WEST NOTABLES
The Big West has had seven different team champions in the last eight tournaments held. The 'Eaters lead all active league members with eight conference titles. They most recently hoisted the trophy in 2018, when as the seventh seed, they edged No. 1 UC Davis by one stroke. UC Irvine has also produced four individual conference champions in John Chin (2008, 2010), Mike Lavery (2003) and Ryan Armstrong (2002). In addition, the Anteaters have made 14 NCAA Division I Regional appearances and advanced to the NCAA Championships three times (1992, 2001, 2008).

CURTAIN CALL
Darien Zhao, UCI's only senior, will be competing in his fourth and final Big West Championship. Zhao had a high finish of third as a sophomore in 2022. The two-time All-Big West selection currently leads the 'Eaters with a 71.96 scoring average. This season, he has a team-high eight rounds in the 60s, while he owns eight career top-10 finishes. Zhao kicked off the campaign with a bang as he claimed runner-up honors with a career-best 13-under 200 at the Nick Watney Invitational in September. He opened the tournament with back-to-back sub-70 scores, carding a 66 (-5) prior to firing a school-record 62 (-9). He finished the first two rounds with 14 birdies and one eagle against only two bogeys for a program-best 36-hole total of 128 (-14). 

WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Freshman Jason Tang made a statement in his collegiate debut, tying for sixth at the season-opening Nick Watney Invitational. Tang concluded his first tournament as an Anteater at 10-under 203 (74-65-64). He found his stride with a bogey-free second round to jump 40 spots in the standings, and carried the momentum into the final round where he continued his ascent up the leaderboard with a 64 (-7). Tang added top-20 showings at the OC Collegiate Classic and the Kapolei Invitational where he also came in at 10-under. 

ON THE RISE
Sophomore Rei Harashima, a 2023 All-Big West honorable mention selection, had a slow start in the fall but has found his way in the spring. He was UCI's top finisher at the OC Collegiate Classic, where he registered a season-best 6-under 204 (67-68-69) to tie for third, and at the prestigious Western Intercollegiate where he tied for 25th.

GOING LOW
As a team, the Anteaters recorded the program's second-best score to par at 38-under at the Kapolei Invitational, Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Darien Zhao and Jason Tang led the way at 10-under. On the season, six 'Eaters have combined for 21 sub-70 scores.