HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's golf team makes its long-await championship season opener Sunday when they tee off at the Notre Dame de Namur Invitational which starts Monday at the Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore, Calif..
The Silverswords, who performed well during their non-championship fall season, returns captain
Jeren Nishimoto (Honolulu/Kaiser). Also returning are
Patrick Tran (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Capistrano Connections Academy) and
Colby Gunderson (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Castle).
The 'Swords also have two newcomers who both performed well during the fall non-championship season.
Desmond Mello (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Hawai'i-Manoa/Moanalua), a transfer from Division I Hawai'i, enjoyed a runner-up finish in his debut as a Silverswords in a dual match against Hawai'i Pacific last October. Freshman
Caleb Ah Mow (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Hanalani) tied with Mello for runner-up honors in his collegiate debut against HPU in that October match.
In the team's biggest match of the fall at the 54-hole Dennis Rose Invitational on the Big Island in late October, Nishimoto and Mello were tied for the team's second-lowest total round with 238s while Ah Mow was just a shot behind.
With the unexpected departures of two members prior to the start of the spring season, the team received some help from other sports to fill the numbers.
Joining the team in time for the spring are
Curtis Coburn (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach),
Masa Swain (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep) and
Matthew Schmidt (Hanalei, Kaua'i, Hawai'i/Hawai'i Technology Academy).
Coburn is a two-time All-PacWest honoree with men's soccer while Swain will join the team full-time after the completion of the men's basketball postseason. Meanwhile Schmidt is like a Swiss Army pocketknife, joining his third different team. He is also a member of the cross country and soccer teams during the fall.
Following the NDNU Invitational, the Silverswords will remain in Northern California and participate in the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout at Corica Park in Alameda, Calif.
The season culminates at the Pacific West Conference Championships which will once again be held at the Wigwam Resort Gold Course in Litchfield Park, Ariz., in late April.
