March 31, 2007

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara is set to host the Ogio-Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Tournament at the Alisal River Course in Solvang, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday, April 2-3. The tournament will be 54 holes, 36 on the first day and 18 on day two.

The Ogio-Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Tournament is being played at the Alisal River Course for the first time ever. While the 2006 PCI at Rancho San Marcos was rained out, three of the last four completed tournaments were held at Lompoc's La Purisima Golf Course and the fourth was at Santa Barbara's Sandpiper Golf Course. UCSB head coach Steve Lass is excited about playing on a new course.

"The Alisal River Course is a beautiful and challenging course," he said. "I also think it is good for us to move the tournament around. We've been very honored in the past to play at Rancho San Marcos, La Purisima and Sandpiper and I'm sure this year will be another great experience."

In addition to UCSB, the tournament field will include Big West Conference rivals Cal Poly, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Cal State Northridge, Pacific and Long Beach State. The remainder of the 18-team field includes two Pac Ten schools (Washington State and Oregon State), two programs from the Western Athletic Conference (New Mexico State and Idaho), four from the West Coast Conference (San Francisco, St. Mary's, Santa Clara and San Diego), one from the Sun Belt (Denver), one from the Big Sky Conference (Sacramento State), and an NCAA Division II power (Cal State Bakersfield).

The teams will play a practice round on Sunday, April 1. The 36 holes on Monday, April 2 will have an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start. The final 18 holes on Tuesday, April 5 will have a split tee start from 7:20 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The Alisal River Golf Course is a 6,830-yard, par 72 course.

In 2005, the last tournament played, UC Davis won its second straight PCI title with an eight-shot victory over Washington State. The Aggies Louie Bishop won the individual title in the tournament at La Purisima. Past individual champions have included Craig Stadler (1973), Scott Simpson (1977) and Duffy Waldorf (1985).