Chico State men’s golfer Scott Raber had to wait quite a while to make his Wildcats debut – over a year, in fact. The El Macero native was a redshirt during the 2011-12 season, but his patience paid big dividends for the ’Cats during the Golfweek D-II Fall Invitational. Raber’s 54-hole total of 2-over par 218 was seventh-best on the individual leaderboard and led Chico State to a share of third place in the tournament. His dandy debut has made Raber the latest Wildcat of the Week.
Raber was a model of consistency throughout the event, totaling 10 birdies at Crosswater Country Club in Sunriver, Ore. He began the tournament shooting even par in Monday’s opening round, then followed it up later that afternoon with a 2-over 74 to complete the day tied for 15th place. He paced the Wildcats in Tuesday’s final round, birdying two of his last four holes to post an even par 72 to crack the individual top 10 and help Chico State finish tied with Western Washington and Cal State Stanislaus for third place, just two strokes back of tournament champion Hawaii-Hilo.
Raber and the Wildcats return to action this Monday and Tuesday with the team’s lone home tournament of the season. Chico State, ranked No. 6 in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America Top 25 poll, will be one of five nationally-ranked schools in the 16-team field at the InterWest Insurance Wildcat Classic at Sevillano Links near Corning.
