SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  After claiming the program's first conference title last year, the Cal State San Marcos men's golf team will look to defend it this week at the CCAA Championships on April 22-24 in Santa Rosa, California. The tournament will be played at Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club with one round each day. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The Cougars concluded the regular season with a sixth-place finish at the Hanny Invitational on March 26 in Turlock. 
• Jason McElroy was CSUSM's top golfer after carding a 9-under 207 for a share of third place. 

NO. 5 REGIONAL RANKING

• The Cougars sit in fifth place in the West Region rankings. 
• Four CCAA schools are ahead of CSUSM – No. 1 Cal State Monterey Bay, No. 2 Chico State, No. 3 Cal State East Bay and No. 4 Cal State San Bernardino – with No. 6 Stanislaus State and No. 7 Sonoma State right behind the Cougars. 
• Western New Mexico will host the 2024 West/South Central Regional on May 9-11 at New Mexico State University Golf Course in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

CCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• CSUSM is the defending CCAA Champion and will be making its seventh appearance in the conference championships.
• The Cougars claimed the program's first-ever conference team title last year with a 10-under 854 (278-290-286), claiming a one-stroke victory over second-place Cal State Monterey Bay (855, -9). 
• All five Cougars finished in the top 15 last year with Matt Penington tying for eighth with a 3-under 213 (67-72-74) while Cutter Ayres, Greg Mouser, Matthew Moss and Jason McElroy all tied for 15th place. 
• Pennington was crowned the 2022 CCAA Individual Medalist, CSUSM's first in program history, after finishing the three-round tournament with a 2-under 214 (75-67-72). 
• In 2022, the Cougars took third as a team with a 33-over 897, 12 strokes behind CCAA Champion Sonoma State. 
• The 18-hole par 72 course at the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club is 6,712 yards from the championship tees. The beautiful parkland golf course is walkable and is designed to be enjoyed by players of all levels of skill, age and experience
• Originally founded in 1916, the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club was relocated to its present-day location in 1959 by designer Jack Fleming, a protege of legendary designer Alister MacKenzie. 

   
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. 

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.
• In his 13 years as the Cougar men's coach and nine years as the Cougar women's coach, Hutton has led CSUSM to 56 tournament victories (32 women/24 men). 
• 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.