INDIANAPOLIS - Following an excellent 2010-11 senior campaign, Keith Okasaki will once again represent the UC San Diego men's golf team in the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships, it was announced Friday. Okasaki will be one of eight individuals competing in the Central/West Regional May 2-4 at the Championships Course at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Okasaki heads to postseason play for the third year in a row after leading the Tritons with 33 rounds played and a stroke average of 75.4 this season. In March, he recorded his highest finish of the year when he shot 10-over par, 223 to place third overall at the 61st Annual Southern California Intercollegiate. He went to finish 16th at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational in early April, before finishing 11th at the CCAA Championships last week in Paso Robles.
Okasaki carded his best round of the season with a 70 to kick off the conference championships and eventually finished at 1-over par, 217 for the tournament.
A native of Sacramento, Okasaki will join Cal State Dominguez Hills' Ryan Indovina and Troy Davis and Ryan Sheffer of Notre Dame de Namur as the four individuals to represent the West Region in Albuquerque.
A total of five teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) were named to the 10-team West Regional field, including two-time conference champion Cal State Monterey Bay, Chico State, Sonoma State, Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State San Bernardino. Rounding out the field are Western Washington, Grand Canyon, Dixie State, Saint Martin's and Pacific West Conference Champion Hawaii Hilo.
Western New Mexico University will serve as the host institution for the Central/West Regional site.
The top five teams and the top two individuals from each regional will advance to the finals May 16-20 at The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals in Florence, Ala. The finals will be hosted by the University of North Alabama.
The only individual from UCSD to qualify for regional competition in 2010, Okasaki finished tied for 65th place at +16, 232 at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif.
For the complete 2011 regional field, click here.