Pono Yanagi is closing in on his final round at Washington State. Throughout the past five years Yanagi has grown as a player, set school records, and helped build the Washington State Men's Golf Program into what it is today. As Yanagi plays in his last tournament as a Coug he inches closer to wrapping up one of the best golf careers in recent WSU Men's Golf history.

Yanagi hails from Hilo, Hawaii where he had been competing in golf tournaments since he was four years old. Naturally, playing collegiate golf was always in the cards for Yanagi but seeing his sister play at the collegiate level made it even more within sight.

Yanagi's sister, Nani Yanagi, spent four years here in Pullman playing as a part of the women's golf team, and this influenced her brother to follow in her footsteps.

"My sister played for WSU from 2012-2016, so when I was in the recruiting process I reached out," Yanagi said. "I was fortunate enough to have my foot in the door at an early time, but I was definitely the first to reach out because I wanted to play for WSU."

Yanagi added that he fell in love with Pullman long before he was committed to playing golf here. 

"I came to Pullman during my sister's official visit, I was in middle school at the time. I got to see the town and I loved it, the small-town feel, the college spirit, that made me fall in love with it at a young age,"  Yanagi explained.

With the goal of coming to WSU to play golf, the dream looked more and more likely as Yanagi became one of the top junior players in the Hawaii area. He competed in events like the BIIF Championships, NHSGA Hawaii Boys High School Golf Championships, and even placed second at the 2018 Big Island Amateur Championship.

With a growing resume, ties to the university, and a clear desire to play for WSU, it did not come as a surprise when in November of 2018 Yanagi finally signed with the Washington State Men's Golf team.

Yanagi made the team for his first tournament as a freshman in the 2019-20 season at the Husky Invitational where he finished tied for 74th and shot 12 over. While this may not have been the result Yanagi wanted, he knew that during the early part of his career there was an opportunity to learn from tournament.

"Coming in as a freshman I had an open mind. I played in tournaments and learned everything I could from them," Yanagi said. "Then once I get older, apply what I've learned."

As the season went on, Yanagi's finishes at tournaments steadily improved. He finished tied for 51st at the Health Plan Mountaineer Invitational and finished in 33rd at the Oregon State Invitational. With steady improvement seen in every tournament thus far, Yanagi was primed for his best finish of the season in the Cougs' last tournament of the fall season.

The Cougs traveled to Stockton, California for the Visit Stockton Pacific Invitational where Yanagi had his best performance yet, shooting even par through three rounds and finishing tied for 22nd. The highlight of his tournament came in the first round where he shot four under, the lowest round of his career at that point.

"It was a good round that showed me I can go low, and it was a good confidence boost," Yanagi explained.

Unfortunately for Yanagi, around this time COVID started to shutdown tournaments and his freshman and sophomore years were cut short. It took until his junior year for Yanagi to experience a full collegiate golf season.

While Yanagi did not make the final lineup for the first tournament of his junior season, he did not let that distract him from making the most of his opportunity in the Husky Invitational as an individual.

Yanagi shot five under through three rounds and finished tied for eighth place, the best placement of his collegiate career to this point. While he wasn't competing in the tournament with his team, Yanagi understood the importance of putting together such a quality performance.

"It was a great confidence boost, no matter what the competition is at this level anybody can go low," Yanagi explained.

This tournament furthermore helped Yanagi's mental approach to the game.

"During that time, it was working a lot on the mental side, committing to shots," Yanagi recalls. "I would be keeping track of how many shots a round did I actually commit to, or would I baby out shots."

After his strong performance in the Husky Invitational as an individual, Yanagi was inserted back into the starting lineup for the Fighting Irish Classic, and while Yanagi finished tied for 62nd, he would quickly get back on track in the Cougars next two tournaments.

The Cougs next traveled to Corvallis, Oregon for the Oregon State Invitational. Yanagi shot just 2-over through three rounds and finished tied for 24th place. Yanagi kept things going into the Visit Stock Invitational where he shot 7-under through three rounds and finished tied for 17th to help the Cougs win the tournament.

Yanagi kept things rolling into the spring season, and in the first tournament, Yanagi shot 1-under through three rounds and finished tied for 20th. The next tournament he shot just 3-over and finished tied for 21^st.

Yanagi wrapped up his junior year finishing with five top 25 finishes, and one Individuals top 10 finish. With this year being his best so far, there was a clear focus on Yanagi's end to try and string together these good performances on a consistent basis.

"Freshman year I had a good year, and my sophomore year was a big learning experience. Taking different classes and trying to fit that with golf and covid. Junior year I was trying to put the pieces together and make a move to play the most consistent golf I can," Yanagi explained. "I can shoot low, but it doesn't mean much if I'm going to shoot in the 80's the next round."

Going into his senior year Yanagi knew he had the ability to be one of the best collegiate golfers in the nation, it was just a matter of doing it on a consistent basis. There were stretches during his junior year where he did just that, but going into his senior year it seemed like Yanagi was just on the verge of finally putting it all together, and he did just that.

To start Yanagi's senior year, the Cougs traveled to Bremerton, Washington for the Husky Invitational, a familiar course for Yanagi, and he had another highlight performance there this time around. He finished tied for fifth place shooting two under through three rounds and helped the Cougars win the Husky Invitational for the first time in program history.

When the Cougs traveled to Boulder, Colorado for the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational Yanagi put together another career performance. Yanagi ended the tournament tied for fifth place, shooting eight under, including a third round which saw Yanagi shoot a 66. However, what won't show up on the scorecard is how far Yanagi has grown as a player and the on-the-fly adjustments he had to make in order achieve this fifth-place finish.

"When we went to Colorado, the conditions of the course were totally different from that of the Husky Invitational. One was firm, and the other was soft," Yanagi recalled. "For me to take a step back and switch my game, which helped me a lot, helped boost my confidence."

Yanagi finished up the fall season with a tie for 20th place in the Saint Mary's Invitational, tallying three top-20 finishes in just the fall season alone. While Yanagi was amid the best stretch of tournaments of his career, the following tournaments reminded him how volatile a sport golf can be.

To start the spring season, Yanagi didn't see a top 35 finish. Despite a couple of performances that Yanagi wasn't the happiest with, part of the growth he has seen as a player has come from the mental side.

"Over the years, I've gotten better at not hanging my head, bad rounds happen," Yanagi said.

Adopting this mentality allowed Yanagi to finish the season on a strong note.

With the Pac-12 tournament right around the corner, the Cougs first traveled to Davis, California for the El Macero Classic. There, Yanagi got back on track placing tied for seventh while shooting six under. This was the best performance Yanagi had had so far in the spring season and it seemed to give him all the confidence needed going into the biggest tournament of the season.

With the biggest moment of the season looming, Yanagi rose to the occasion. He finished third in the tournament and shot 20-under par through four rounds, the highest a Coug has ever finished, and helped the Cougars finish third overall. Despite the moment being the biggest of the season, Yanagi explained that he kept his cool and delivered under the brightest of lights.

"A lot of it was staying in the moment, playing my game and not worrying about anything else," Yanagi explained.

Due to his performance at the Pac-12 tournament and his play all season, Yanagi was rewarded with a spot in the NCAA-Regionals tournament, a mark that only three other Cougs have ever received and was the program's first in 13 years. Yanagi recalls the moment of when he first found out he was heading to regionals.

"We were looking at rankings and to see my name pop up was pretty insane," Yanagi said. "To be the first guy to go to regionals since Kevin Tucker feels amazing."

For the first time in over a decade a Cougar was in the field during a NCAA Regionals. While there, Yanagi finished tied for 32nd shooting 6-over through three rounds.

With one of the most decorated seasons in WSU golf history, Yanagi finished the year with three top-five finishes, four top-10 finishes, the highest placement in a Pac-12 tournament in Coug history, and a 71.64 scoring average, the lowest in program history. After concluding one of the best seasons in Cougar golf history, it came to no surprise when Yanagi used his covid eligibility to return for his fifth year.

To start the season, the Cougars traveled to Pawleys Island, South Carolina for the Golfweek Fall Challenge. There, Yanagi had the best finish of his career, finishing tied for first place, shooting 17-under over three rounds.

Yanagi played in every tournament and collected four top-25 finishes and one first-place finish, but now as the Cougs are playing in the National Golf invitational, it marks the last tournament for Yanagi in his Cougar career.

While Yanagi's accolades are at the forefront of his WSU career, the impact he's had off the course rivals any score he's finished with.

"The program has changed a lot since I've been here. My freshman year we were starting to build the program up, my class was a change of pace, wanting to play better golf and really compete. Every year coaches brought in guys that could play excellent golf and each year expectations got higher and higher," Yanagi explained. "I hope overall I helped this program since I've learned a lot from everybody."

While it's easy to get caught up in the moment at his last tournament as a Coug, Yanagi said he's going to enjoy it, but is still mindful of the goal in the end.

"For me this is the last collegiate event ever, so I'm going to enjoy it," Yanagi said. "Five years flew by so fast, this tournament isn't life or death, were going there for a reason, it's a business trip. Our goal is to bring home the trophy."