At one of the United States’ premier golf courses, Colorado State University’s mens golf program looked stronger than ever in three days of play, earning their first win at the Saint Mary’s Invitational tournament Wednesday evening. The Rams held off a stacked tournament field on an extremely difficult course to earn another victory. 

The team did their dirty work early on Monday, finishing the day -17 thanks to strong performances from sophomores Oscar Teiffel and Davis Bryant. Despite a solid outing from Brigham Young University and the University of Arizona on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Rams pushed back against the eventual second and third place finishers by adding a few strokes to their lead each day.

Junior Parathakorn Suyasri led the team on Tuesday, shooting -8 and joining Bryant at the top of the player rankings. The Rams scored in a balanced attack, with four golfers shooting at par or lower on the challenging course.

Hosted at Poppy Hills Golf Course, this was the team’s third appearance on the notoriously long course. Known for its former spot in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am rotation, the course boasts four holes of 500 yards or more. The Rams had no issue with the distance-heavy holes, scoring -20 on par-5 holes and a top score of +4 on par-4 holes.

The Rams briefly fell behind Golfstat’s No. 4 ranked Brigham Young team on Wednesday, but junior Jack Ainscough almost single-handedly held them off by shooting -5 on the back end to offset a +4 score on the front nine.

Colorado State finished with a team score of -25, five strokes less than the Cougars. This was the team’s third event win of the season.

BYU wasn’t the only strong program joining the No. 18 ranked Rams in Pebble Beach. The No. 10 ranked Oregon State Beavers finished in fifth, the No. 11 ranked Arizona Wildcats finished in third and the No. 37 ranked San Diego State Aztecs finished in seventh.

The Rams sent five golfers to Pebble Beach. Their results were:

Akedanai Ponghathaikul, a sophomore on the team, played as an individual and shot +4 through the tournament, good for a fifth-place finish in the individual field.

In last year’s tournament, the Rams finished fifth with all four teams ahead qualifying for postseason play. Following this tournament win, the Rams will move up significantly from their fourth-place spot in the Mountain West standings. They will also look to jump in the national rankings as they enter their winter break.

The Rams are not scheduled to play again until the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in February. The annual tournament is hosted by the University of Wyoming at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, California. Colorado State finished fifth in the tournament last year and will look to capture its first victory of 2020 as they enter the final stretch to the Mountain West championship.

Matt Davis can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @MattDavis27.