Cal Poly golfer Geoff Gonzalez was ousted from the 99th California State Amateur at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, falling to Harry Rudolph, of La Jolla, in the opening round of match play.
Down after seven holes of play, Gonzalez battled back with an eagle and two birdies to even the match. Rudolph, however, won four of the next five holes to close out the match.
Gonzalez, who redshirted the 2009-10 season, will be a senior in the fall. He was medalist a year ago and won each of his five matches in match play to capture the 98th California State Amateur at the Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City. Gonzalez defeated Jeff Wilson, of Fairfield, in the championship final.
Gonzalez also earned All-Big West first-team honors in 2009. In addition, he finished tied for first place in the Cal Poly Intercollegiate, won the Anteater Invitational hosted by UC Irvine and finished tied for second place in the Braveheart Classic hosted by UC Riverside.
In addition, Gonzalez finished ninth in the Big West Conference Championships at the San Luis Obispo Country Club and qualified for the NCAA West Regional, where he finished in a tie for 57th place with rounds of 71, 76 and 74, also at Lake Merced.
Gonzalez twice has qualified for the NCAA Regional. As a freshman, he competed in the 2007 NCAA Division-I West Regional at Arizona State’s Karsten Golf Course in Tempe and finished tied for 53rd place with a four-under-par 212 total.
As a junior in 2008-09, Gonzalez averaged 72.1 strokes over 26 rounds with five top-10 finishes and 14 rounds of par or better, including four rounds in the 60s. He has 14 career rounds in the 60s and 38 rounds of par or better so far at Cal Poly, finishing in the top 10 a total of 11 times.