State's Best Head to Desert for 3C2A Men's Golf State Championship
La Quinta, Calif. - The temperatures will be high, but the scores will be low as the best nine teams in the state take on the elements and a tough SilverRock Resort golf course for the 2026 3C2A Men's Golf State Championships. The two-day, 36-hole event kicks off on Sunday at 8 a.m., with Round 2 scheduled for Monday at 8 a.m.
Unlike last year's State Finals, hosted on the Monterey Bay coastline under chilly, blustery conditions, the La Quinta-based SilverRock Resort will be extremely chill-free, with temperatures to reach triple digits.
But big-numbered temps could lead to a barrage of low scores, and this year's group of golfers will look to bring quality scores to the beautiful, 7,230-yard course.
The nine teams in this year's field – College of the Canyons, Reedley, Napa Valley, Orange Coast, College of the Desert, San Joaquin Delta, Sierra, Ventura and Victor Valley – will join several individual golfers from non-qualifying teams for this year's season-ending event.
At last week's Regional playoffs, Northern California's best golfers saw Reedley – last year's state runner-up – top the field with a two-round team score of 595 at the Bayonet Golf Course, followed by Napa Valley (616), Sierra (621) and San Joaquin Delta (631).
Napa Valley's Will Hutton was the low-scorer for the two-round event. After an opening-round, 75, Hutton followed that up with a 73 for a 36-hole total of 148, earning the top spot after a four-player card-off that also saw a trio of Reedley Tigers – Marco Woehler, Leo Eisner and Julian Rombouts – each shoot 148.
In all, five Reedley golfers cracked the top 11 on the leaderboard. Joining the aforementioned Tiger trio were teammates Dante Damico, who placed sixth overall with a 74-78-152 and Brecht Hulsman, who finished 11th with a 76-80-156.
Top individual golfer went to San Jose City College's Tyler Kha, who finished 10th after shooting a 76-79-155.
Down south, the low scores were running wild at Olivas Links in Ventura, with College of the Desert earning the low team score of 290-297-587, just one stroke ahead of the two-time defending state-champion COC Cougars (294-294-588). Ventura (299-298-597), Orange Coast (304-299-603) and Victor Valley (308-297-605) also earned their schools a weekend spot at the State Championships.
COC's Jacques Struyf and Ventura's Freddie Carcamo each shot 143s with Struyf (72-71) winning the card-off over Carcamo (74-69). Victor Valley's Cory Rose and Cypress' James Luther (low individual) were each one shot off of the lead pace with 144s, while COD's Mason Montgomery finished fifth with a 71-75-146.
Desert had four golfers in the top 13, with Braxten Ziegenbusch (71-76-147), Sinjin Armstrong (74-74-148) and Braxton McDonald (77-72-149) all scoring for the OEC-champion Roadrunners.
A win by College of the Canyons would give the Cougars three state titles in a row and the 13thmen's golf crown in their impressive team history.
Courtesy of Tony Altobelli, CCCISA