The University of Hawaiʻi men’s golf team will compete in the 2026 Big West Men’s Golf Championship, which takes place from May 3 to May 5 at the La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, California.
The event marks the sixth consecutive year that the tournament is held at this course. Ten teams are set to participate: Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Hawaiʻi, defending champion Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara. The teams will play a total of 54 holes over three days on a par-72 course measuring 7,056 yards.
Hawaiʻi enters as the sixth seed and will tee off in Sunday’s opening round between 10:50 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time alongside golfers from UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara. The Rainbow Warriors’ lineup includes James Whitworth, Dane Watanabe (who finished last season’s championship tied for 40th), Nathan Szpakowicz, Alec Hilgers, Chris Salem and alternate Cameron Combado.
Long Beach State arrives as both defending champion and top-ranked team in the conference—currently ranked No. 28 nationally according to Scoreboard by Clippd rankings after winning last year’s title with a record score of 22-under par.
Hawaiʻi’s best finish at this event was fifth place in 2019 when it hosted the championship on Kaua’i. The winner of this week’s tournament will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional field; additionally, any individual medalist not on an advancing team or selected squad receives an individual regional berth.
Live scoring for all rounds is available through Scoreboard.Clippd.com.
