VENTURA, Calif. – Cal Lutheran men's golf finished third in the CA State Intercollegiate, the team's first tournament of the 2025-26 year. The Kingsmen hosted the tournament at par-72 Olivas Links, finishing at -11 after three rounds in two days.
Ty Kuroda and
Ryan Mattivi each placed in the top-10 to kick off their fall seasons.
Sharing the course with the women's tournament, the Kingsmen brought out 15 golfers and began at 8am Monday morning with a shotgun start.
Jackson Stitt (H2) put together a nice opening round with four birdies, finishing at -2. Mattivi (H1) played consistent golf with pars on each of the first seven holes, and two birdies to end the round brought him to -1. Kuroda (H2) also began with a long series of pars, eventually knocking in a couple birdies on the back-nine to end at even-par. First-year
Kaden Devenport (H3) sank a cool 14 pars in his first taste of collegiate golf, adding a birdie on the par-4 hole 7 and finishing at +2. Fellow first-year
Tate Evans got under par quickly with a birdie on the par-5 hole 3 and rode nine consecutive pars in the middle of his round to a +3 scorecard.
As individuals, five more Kingsmen shot even-par or better as
Tsukasa Katsuki (H8),
Tyler Meister (H13),
Luke Rimkunas (H6),
Nick Huffman (H7), and
Grady Newsom (H7) all impressed. Each of them birdied the par-5 hole 18, as 10 Kingsmen birdied that hole in the opening round. Katsuki, a first-year, shot a team-low 69 in his first round of collegiate golf, and Meister had a team-high five birdies.
After Round 1, Cal Lutheran sat in 5th place at -1 while Katsuki cracked the top-10, tied at 6th.
The men's tournament immediately went back out for another round, this time under the hot sun of Ventura County. The Kingsmen turned it up a notch, as 10 golfers finished at even-par or better, including each of the five competing in the team match. Kuroda (H4) connected on six birdies and made pars on the other 12 holes to shoot a ridiculous -6, with his score of 66 tying for 7th all-time in program history.
Mattivi (H2) got started with a birdie on hole 2 and added three more en route to a -3 finish. Stitt (H3) knocked in five total birdies and joined Mattivi at -3. Davenport (H5) also brought home five birdies and produced a round of -1. Evans (H1) joined the party with three birdies, ending at even-par.
Playing as individuals,
Jacob Fox (H17), Katsuki (H9), Rimkunas (H7), Huffman (H9), and Meister (H13) all played well, with Fox knocking in four birdies to just one bogey, finishing at -1.
The Kingsmen made up some ground with a -13 team round, the best of any squad in Round 2. They finished the first day tied in 2nd, five strokes back of the lead. Kuroda had the 2nd-best round of any individual, and Mattivi, Stitt, and Fox each cracked the top-10 in Round 2 scores.
The Kingsmen were back at it early the next morning, with another shotgun start at 8am. Kuroda (H1) began his round well, birdying the par-4 hole 1. He added back-to-back birdies at the end of the front-nine and eventually finished at -1.
Mattivi (H2) kicked his morning off with a birdie on the par-5 hole 2 and accumulated one more along with 14 pars en route to an even-par round. Evans (H3) got off to a bit of a rocky start, but he settled in with a birdie on the par-9 hole 9 and dropped in three more to finish at even-par on the round. Evans had four birdies and eight pars in his final 12 holes.
Devenport (H2) sank a birdie on the par-5 hole 14 and finished at +4. Stitt (H1) managed three birdies on his +5 scorecard.
As individuals, Huffman (H14), Meister (H14), and Katsuki (H13) each shot impressive rounds. Huffman dropped in four birdies for the lowest score of any member of the Kingsmen in the final round at -2. Katsuki and Meister each shot +2, and the only thing holding Katsuki back from his third score of under-par in three rounds was a triple-bogey on hole 4. Meister tied the team-high with four birdies of his own in the round.
When all teams finished, Cal Lutheran found itself in 3rd place at -11, holding on despite owning the 7th-best Round 3 team score. Kuroda finished tied for 5th at -7, and Mattivi tied for 9th at -4.
Kuroda shot the 4th-lowest 54-hole score in program history (209) while Mattivi cracked the top-10 (212). In Round 2, the Kingsmen etched their place in the record books, tying the 2nd-lowest team round in program history (275), just four strokes back from the current record-holding 2023 CA State Intercollegiate group.
Cal Lutheran also shot the 2nd-lowest 54-hole team score in program history (853), just five strokes back of the record that was set in the most recent tournament, the 2025 SCIAC Championships.
The Kingsmen will look to continue their scorching hot start at the Menlo Invitational in Carmel, CA on September 29 and 30, first tees at 8am.
