SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The No. 13 Cal State San Marcos men's golf team will open its 2023-24 season at Chico State's Wildcat Classic on Monday, Oct. 2 at Butte Creek Country Club in Chico. 

COUGAR OUTLOOK

• With five returners from the 2022-23 team, this year's squad has three new faces with the addition of Aiden Canada, Gavin McCormick and Nick Mouser. 
• The 2022-23 team won five tournaments last season including making program history with a CCAA Championship Tournament victory. 
• The Cougars saw last season come to an end with an 18th-place finish in the NCAA West/South Central Regional Championship. 

WILDCAT CLASSIC 

• CSUSM returns to the Wildcat Classic for the second consecutive year. 
• Last year, CSUSM shared fourth place with Holy Names and Cal State San Bernardino after carding a 2-under 862. Matt Pennington was the top Cougar with a tie for 10th place after carding a 6-under 210. 
• In 2019, the Cougars shared fifth place with Cal State East Bay after carding a 27-over 891. Ryan Bisharat was CSUSM's top golfer with a 4-under 212 and tied for third place. 
• CSUSM's first appearance in the Wildcat Classic occurred in 2015 when the Cougars (+3, 867) won the tournament with Dylan Healey (-5, 211) securing the individual medalist honors. 
• The Wildcat Classic returns to Butte Creek Country Club after moving over to Peach Tree Golf and Country Club in 2022. 
• The 2021 Wildcat Classic was cut short due to high winds during the final round. Stanislaus State claimed the team title and Academy of Art's Matthew Watkins was the individual medalist. The Cougars rallied back from five strokes down, firing a 293 (+5) to finish with a 598 (+22) and earn a six-stroke victory. 

THE HUTTON FILE

• Head coach Greg Hutton has been at the helm of the men's program since the 2010-11 season and was named the women's head coach in 2014.
• The CSUSM women's team was the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship runner-up, led by National Champion Jaime Jacob.
• The CSUSM men's golfer Matt Pennington was the program's first-ever CCAA Champion and NCAA West/South Central Regional Champion in 2022. 
• In 2023, the CSUSM men's team captured its first-ever CCAA Championship Tournament Title, defeating runner-up Cal State Monterey by one stroke on April 19 at the Victory Club in Riverside. 
• Under Hutton's leadership, the women's team won CSUSM's first CCAA Championship in school history in 2018 and the Cougars defended their title in 2019, 2022 and 2023. 
• In CSUSM's first year of being a full-fledged NCAA Division II member in 2017-18, the Cougar men's and women's golf teams each qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships.