By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications
BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The NCAA regional championship hardware that
Christopher Zamani got his hands on last Saturday in California might be the largest golf trophy he has ever held, but it certainly wasn’t the first.
The junior on the Western Washington men’s golf team didn’t play the sport seriously until high school, but his interest in the game stemmed back much further than that. “It was actually the last sport I picked up,” said Zamani, who carded a three-round score of 220 (71-74-75) to help the Vikings win last week’s regional crown. “I grew up watching Tiger and Rory on TV with my dad, but my only relationship with golf before high school was knowing that my dad played.”
Lining the walls of his family’s garage at their home in Sammamish, Wash., is a set of
Saeed Zamani’s golf clubs along with a trophy he earned through his winning performance at a tournament organized by his employer. “He talked about how much he loved playing, and I would always see his clubs and the trophy he won,” Zamani said of the inspiration he drew from his father. “One day in middle school he took me out to the range, and that’s how I got started.”
2026 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships
May 18-22, 2026 | Boulder Creek Golf Course | Boulder City, Nevada
The Western Washington Vikings won the 2026 NCAA West/South Central Regional Championships in Stockton, Calif., May 7-9, securing the program’s 11th spot into the national championships. The event kicks off on Monday morning, with a live leaderboard
available online here.
Zamani’s journey to WWU from Eastlake High School included a one-semester stop at NCAA Division III Linfield University in McMinnville, Ore., where he cites a big leap in his game inspiring a step up to the next division. “I played really well at Linfield and I felt like I was ready to make a jump,” Zamani said of his 2023 fall performance. “I reached out to (WWU coach)
Luke (Bennett) when I hit the portal and he was interested. Things played out nicely.”
Fast forward to this spring and Zamani is not only competing at the Division II level but is a solidified fixture in the lineup of one of the top teams in the country. His contributions to the Vikings’ run to next week’s national championships have been invaluable, including his 1-under-par opening round at the super regional and his career-best 5-under-par 66 in the first round of the 2026 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on April 20 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Zamani went on to earn all-tournament honors with a tie for fifth place at the GNAC Championships, helping WWU capture its record 12th conference tournament trophy.
That came before last week’s regional crown – the second since the Vikings joined NCAA Division II. As the magnitude of the win fully struck Zamani after the round, he took a moment to reflect on the collective accomplishment alongside his teammates. “The only way describe it was being really fun and exciting,” Zamani said of the regional win. “One of the things
Peter (Dionne-Yahr) and I talked about post tournament is how much faith we have in each other – it is something really cool about this year. We know we are capable of winning tournaments, but we don’t put a whole lot of stress or emphasis on it. We just go out and do what we can control and know we are able to support one another.”
Zamani is no stranger to championship-caliber competition, as he chipped in a 2-under-par 214 (70-71-73) at the 2025 NCAA Regional Championships. He has had at least one round of par or better in all three of the postseason tournaments he has competed in for the Vikings thus far. Zamani holds a stroke average of 72.9 to rank seventh in the GNAC in 2025-26, and his career average of 73.01 through 36 rounds played ranks him eighth all-time among players in the conference.
The 14 clubs Zamani trusts in tournament play.
| What's In The Bag? - Christopher Zamani |
| Driver |
TaylorMade Qi10 |
| 4-Wood |
Titleist TSi2 |
| 3-Hybrid |
PING G410 |
| Irons (4-through-P) |
Titleist T100 |
| Wedges (50, 56, 60) |
Vokey SM11 |
| Putter |
Scotty Cameron Newport 2 |
What club are you most comfortable with in your hand? “I feel really good with my 50-degree (Vokey SM11) and pitching wedge (Titleist T100). When I have those two clubs, I am able to attack my spot and have control of where to hit into the green.”
Sand bunkers are hardly “trouble” for Zamani – in fact it is one facet of his game that came to him quickly and naturally. The judgment and feel required for a good out are abilities that he developed early in his playing and has worked on often. “I just remember the first time I went out I had a bunker shot and my dad told me to hit the sand first – it clicked immediately. It came very easily to me and it was the only part of my golf game that I never had to learn. I really like bunker shots and pretty much always hit them with my lob wedge. It is something I have a lot of confidence in.”
![]()
Zamani's 60-degree wedge is a weapon in his hands around the greens (Photo: Will G MacNeil).
The lone left-handed player in the WWU lineup, Zamani showed what he could do in his debut for the Vikings in the fall of 2024. In his opening tournament, he carded a 6-under-par 210 (71-69-70) at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club – a score that stands as his top collegiate 54-hole performance. “I had a rough start – I think I was 3-over through the first eight holes,” Zamani reflected on that tournament, which he cites as one of the performances he is most proud of in his career. “It was our home course so I felt comfortable at it, but I just started out sloppy. I remember midway through the first day of 36 holes I did a good job of re-setting and keeping things simple, and I was able to bring the whole tournament around.”
It is precisely that kind of re-set mindset that Zamani, along with all the experienced Viking players, possesses and has led to one of the most successful seasons in program history. The team has consistently displayed its depth and ability to pick one another up, rather than relying on all five players to shoot low scores in every round. Zamani and Dionne-Yahr each shot matching 66s – the tournament low round – to open the GNAC Championships, before
Nick Ennis (68),
Rex Wilson (69) and
Conrad Brown (69) each went low in the second round to give WWU an insurmountable lead.
The focus now shifts to Boulder Creek Golf Course, where the Vikings will compete among the top-20 teams in the country for an NCAA championship title. It will be somewhat foreign territory for Zamani, who has not played the course, but his sturdy preparation routine has served him well up to this point. “For this week I will work on hitting driver given the distance and length of this course,” Zamani said on the championship links, which span around 7,600 yards. “Always falling back on pitch shots and chipping is good to do whenever you’re going to a course you’re not familiar with. The short game can really save you at times, and most of the time you are just focusing on repeatability. We make sure we have our go-to shots that we can fall back on and be able to trust no matter where we are playing.”
At some point across the upcoming 54 holes, Zamani will encounter a tricky bunker shot requiring precise execution to help him get up-and-down to save par. But he’s already prepared to handle that eventuality – after all it’s one of the first pieces of advice he received from his trophy-winning father: “Hit the sand first.”
Zamani tees off on the iconic 14th hole at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, where WWU won its 12th GNAC Championships title last month (Photo: Shawn Toner).