Cougars Capture Husky Invitational with Strong Final Round

BREMERTON, Wash. (Sept. 20, 2022) - The Washington State men's golf team shot a final-round of 3-under par, 285, to come from behind and capture the 2022 Husky Invitational Tuesday at the par 72, 7,159-yard Gold Mountain Olympic Course. WSU posted its best score of the tournament en route to finishing with a three-round score of 4-over, 868, three strokes ahead of USC and five strokes clear of host Washington.
 
This was Head Coach Dustin White's fourth career win and second career victory outside of Pullman. White expressed he couldn't ask for a better start to the season and was thrilled for the team.
 
"I'm really happy for the guys. We've been working hard and there are a lot of things people don't see, but this [win] really gets to shine through," said White.
 
Junior Jaden Cantafio and senior Pono Yanagi both finished top-five on the player leaderboard. Cantafio led WSU after he shot 4-under; 68 in the final round to finish at 3-under, 213, good for third place overall. He moved up 15 places over his final round, which included five birdies and an eagle on the par-4 18th. Cantafio ended his day one stroke behind Washington's Taehoon Song and five strokes behind first place Jackson Rivera from USC. Yanagi had a strong performance on the back-nine of his final round as he birdied five holes to put him 1-under, 71 and 2-under; 214 for the tournament.
 
Tuesday, WSU posted the best third round in the field, which aided its jump from third to first place after the second round.
 
"We didn't get off to a great start in round one but we just kept at it and kept our heads up," said White. "We played tough. We were patient and accepting and all the things we always talk about. To see some of the shots and putts we made; it was awesome."
 
Along with Cantafio and Yanagi, Preston Bebich finished his three-round tournament at 6-over, 222, in 23rd place, while Sam Renner concluded his collegiate debut tied for 39th at 9-over, 225 and Peter Jung ended his event tied for 45th at 11-over, 227.

In addition to overcoming five Pac-12 teams, WSU conquered three teams ranked in the top-35: No. 18 Washington, No. 30 Oregon, and No. 33 Duke.
 
This is the Cougars first victory since the 2021 Visit Stockton Invitational last October and their first Husky Invitational win. The Cougs have won several times on the eastern side of Washington throughout their history, but a tournament win on the west side marked a program first.
 
In the Husky Individual Invitational, redshirt junior Tianyu Wu placed the highest amount the Cougars after finishing 2-under; 211 to end the day in a tie for seventh. He shot even-par on his first two rounds and 3-under 69 on the final round.
 
"We are going to get back to work and learn as much as we can from this. We are just going to keep doing what we are doing," said White.
 
Next up, WSU will head to the Mark Simpson Invitational in Boulder, Colo., October 3rd.
 
For more information on the Washington State men's golf team, follow @WSUCougarMGolf on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.