Josh McCollum teed off on the 2018–19 season with a pair of 68s on the way to medalist honors at the Western Washington Invitational. Fast-forward to last week and McCollum was at it again. The senior scorched the Corica Park South Course in Alameda for back-to-back 68s to close out the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout, flying up the leaderboard into second place and leading the Wildcats to a second-place finish.
McCollum carded six birdies in Monday's second round and followed that up with five birdies and an eagle on Tuesday to finish the tournament at 7-under par and earn Wildcat of the Week honors. In each case, McCollum's four-under par round matched the low in the 88-player field.
The top-five finish was McCollum's second of the campaign and his third top-20.
It is often the case that as McCollum goes, the Wildcats go. In 14 career events, the Orange Coast Community College and Liberty High School (Las Vegas) product has registered seven top-20 finishes. The Wildcats have won two of those events and finished second in three others. In every case, they've finished among the top five teams.
Last season McCollum earned First Team All-CCAA honors after posting a scoring average of 73.50. This season, McCollum has been even better, posting a scoring average of 73.11. He has finished five of his 19 rounds in the 60s to lead the team.
McCollum and the 'Cats will be back in action on Monday and Tuesday when they take part in the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational at Turlock Country Club.
