Report by LBSU

FIRST TEE: The Long Beach State men’s golf team opens the 2009-10 season at the Second Annual Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Wyoming Oct. 5-6, in Palm Desert, Calif. Thirty-six holes will be played on Monday with the remaining 18 concluding on Tuesday. Both days will begin with a shotgun start at 7:45 a.m. and will be played at the Desert Club (par-72, 7,322 yards). Seniors Michael Drake and Steve Gibson, sophomore Kevin Roy and freshmen Benjamin Lein and Raymond Ho will be competing against the 17 teams participating in this year’s Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate (Wyoming, Boise State, Cal State Northridge, Denver, Drake, UMKC, Nebraska, Southern Utah, UTSA, UC Riverside, Santa Clara, UC Santa Barbara, Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, UTEP and Weber State).

POUTRE ON BEGINNING THE SEASON: “We are excited to get the competitive schedule started,” said second year Long Beach State Head Coach Bill Poutre. “We have a very deep and talented squad. Our strength is ball striking and that should serve us well on the 7300+ yard Classic Club layout. We have had a month of internal competition and preparation and now we begin a fast paced stretch of 5 events in 45 days. This first event will be a nice test to begin our season.”

LAST YEAR AT THE WYOMING INTERCOLLEGIATE: The 49ers finished in eighth place among 19 teams at last year’s inaugural Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert. LBSU recorded a three-round score of 902. Michael Drake led the 49ers as he tied for 14th with a 222, followed by Steve Gibson tied for 26th with a 226. Junior Ricky Montanez tied for 30th (227) with freshmen Kevin Lim and Kevin Roy both tied for 61st (234).

LBSU WELCOMES NEW RECRUITS: Head Golf Coach Bill Poutre added two transfer student-athletes to the 2009-10 roster. Robbie Berton (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will have one year of eligibility after transferring from the University of Hawaii. Berton was the number one player for Hawaii in the 2008-09 season finishing the year with a 73.2 stroke average. His career stroke average at Hawaii is 74.2 over 54 competitive rounds. In January, Berton was the Medalist in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open Pre-Qualifier with a five- under par 67. Berton followed with a 3-under par 69 in the Monday qualifier missing by a single-shot while beating several current PGA Tour Professionals including Kevin Stadler, Y.E. Yang and Bryce Molder. Berton spent his freshman year at Saddleback Community College. While at Saddleback, he was a member of the California State Junior College Championship team and was selected to all-state honors. Brian Albertazzi (Killington, Vermont) transfered

from the University of Hartford and will have two years of eligibility for the 49ers. Albertazzi, Hartford’s No. 1 player, was recruited by and played for Poutre at Hartford and now joins his former coach on the west coast. He is the current Vermont State Amateur Champion, the current America Sky Conference Individual Champion, and was an All-Conference selection during this past season. Albertazzi and Berton will be joined by the three high school recruits signed during the early signing period in November. Raymond Ho (Cerritos) Benjamin Lein (Diamond Bar) and Philip Chian (Covina). All three were ranked Nos. 7, 8 and 10 respectively in the current Junior Golf Scoreboard State Rankings for the class of 2009. Long Beach State is the only school with three recruits in the state’s top 10. Additionally, the three are all ranked in the top 150 in the world rankings. The new 49ers will join a team returning a solid group of five players led by rising senior and two-time second team Big West selection Michael Drake, this year’s Big West Conference Co-Freshman of the Year Kevin Lim and Freshman Kevin Roy, who was the Big West Player of the Month in November after a third place finish at the Turtle Bay Invitational.

BEACH HOSTS DEL WALKER INTERCOLLEGIATE: The men’s golf team will once again serve as hosts of the 14th Annual Del Walker Intercollegiate Golf Classic on Oct. 22-23 at the Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. The 54-hole tournament will feature (14 teams) defending Del Walker champions Colorado State, reigning Big West Champions UC Irvine and Oregon from the Pac-10. Four additional Big West teams will compete as UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge, Pacific and Cal Poly will all make the trip to Long Beach. San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, St. Mary’s, Wyoming and Weber State round out the field. Teams will participate in a practice round on Oct. 21 before continuing on to competition on Thursday, Oct. 22. The tournament will feature a 14-team field competing in a “six count five” format, in which each team will field six players with the five-best 18-hole scores from each round counting towards the team total. The Del Walker Intercollegiate

is named after former coach Del Walker, who retired in 1993 after 12 seasons. The event is held annually at Virginia Country Club where Walker was a member of 67 years.

LBSU/UCLA TO HOST BATTLE AT THE BEACH: The Long Beach State and UCLA men’s golf programs have will join together to host the inaugural Battle at the Beach that will take place Feb. 14-16, 2010, at the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast, Calif. Eighteen holes will be played on each day. The field will feature a total of 13 teams: Arizona State, Arkansas, Colorado, Colorado State, Long Beach State, Notre Dame, Oregon State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas-Arlington, UC Davis, UCLA and Washington.

NEXT UP FOR THE 49ERS: The 49ers will next be action as they return to the desert as they take part in The Prestige of PGA West hosted by San Francisco and Stanford. The three-day tournament will take place Oct. 11-13 in La Quinta, Calif