Monterey Times

Simon Björken claims his first collegiate crown at Otter Invitational

Simon Björken (Hudiksval, Sweden) finished a record–setting performance to earn a 3–stroke victory at the Otter Invitational Tuesday afternoon at Bayonet Golf Course.

Björken carded rounds of 67, 69 and 69 to finish at 11–under 205 for the 54–hole event. That broke the record for Otter Invitationals played on Bayonet of 208 set by Chris Crisologo of Simon Fraser University in 2016.

"I couldn't be happier for Simon," says CSUMB Head Coach Jason Owen. He works so hard and is an extremely good player. This was an awesome 'W' for him."

The Otter sophomore needed to be at his best to hold off Barry University's Nicolas Quintero, who nipped at Björken's heels for all three rounds. In fact, Quintero actually came back to forge a 2–stroke lead at the turn Tuesday before Björken birdied 10 and 11 to pull ahead once again after Quintero bogeyed 10. Björken never relinquished that lead, playing the final seven holes a 1–under while his adversary went 1–over down the stretch.

Quintero's effort did help Barry take the team title, as the fourth–ranked Buccaneers went 1–under 287 Tuesday to earn an 11–stroke win against a stacked 18–team field featuring eight teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally. No. 33 CSUMB and No. 6 Sonoma State tied for second at 3–over 867. Other big head-to-head wins for CSUMB included No. 21 Georgia Southwestern, which placed fourth, No. 17 Cal State San Bernardino (6th), No. 20 Stanislaus State (7th), No. 2 Simon Fraser (9th), No. 16 Cal State San Marcos (13th) and No. 11 Chico State (15th).

"This tournament was a huge bounce back from last week and should prove that we will be good," says Owen.

Sophomore A.J. Fitzgerald (Salinas/Palma School) finished fifth overall as part of CSUMB's "B" team for this tournament. Fitzgerald went 74–67–72 (–3). Also finishing in the Top 25 for the Otters was sophomore Tommy Kimberling (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS), who placed 22nd at 4–over 220.

The Otters will head across the Pacific next week to close the fall portion of their schedule with back-to-back tournaments in Hawaii. They'll play at the HPU Shootout Oct. 25–26 on Oahu before heading to the Big Island for the Dennis Rose Invitational Oct. 28–29. Both tournaments are sponsored by Southwest Airlines.

Original source can be found here.