Sept. 13, 2002
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The San Diego State men's golf team opened the 2002-03 season today at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and finished the first 36 holes of the three-round tournament in sixth place. The Aztecs shot rounds of 294-290 for an 8-over total of 584, which stands 15 shots behind host and defending champion New Mexico (281-288-569).
Among the top five teams after two rounds are three of Golf World's preseason top 25 teams, No. 4 Arizona (third place at 1-under 575), No. 16 UNLV (second at 6-under 570) and No. 21 Oklahoma (fifth at 6-over 582).
Returning to the site of the 2002 NCAA West Regional, SDSU is just three shots behind fourth-place Texas Tech, which eliminated the Aztecs in a sudden death playoff on the UNM Championship Course in last year's regional. And with all eight Mountain West schools competing, SDSU currently stands third among conference squads.
The Aztecs claim five of the top 42 individuals; however, their top scorer at even-par 144, senior John Lepak, is playing as an individual. In his first event since redshirting in 2001-02 to recover from a back injury, the La Habra Heights native shot 73-71 over the first two rounds.
SDSU's top team competitor is junior Mark Warman at 1-over 145. Among the Aztecs' other players, senior John Lieber recovered nicely from an opening-round 76 with a second-round 70 that puts him in a tie for 24th at 2-over 146. A shot behind Lieber and tied for 33rd are senior Lars Johansson and junior Gilberto Rodriguez at 147 while freshman Andrew Scott is tied for 59th at 152.
Play resumes tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. for the third and final round of the Tucker Intercollegiate.
First- and second-round scores with relation to par Sept. 13at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, played at thepar-72, 7,272-yard UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, N.M.
1. New Mexico 281-288-569 (-7)2. UNLV 288-282-570 (-6)3. Arizona 284-291-575 (-1)4. Texas Tech 293-288-581 (+5)5. Oklahoma 291-291-582 (+6)6. San Diego State 294-290-584 (+8)7. New Mexico JV 296-290-586 (+10)8. Brigham Young 293-295-588 (+12)9. Oregon State 286-303-589 (+13) New Mexico State 296-293-589 (+13)11. Texas El Paso 289-301-590 (+14)12. Pepperdine 293-301-594 (+18) Colorado State 296-298-594 (+18)14. Colorado 303-299-602 (+26)15. Air Force 301-302-603 (+27)16. Wyoming 304-303-607 (+31) Utah 301-306-607 (+31)18. Texas A&M 300-309-609 (+33)
Top Individuals1. Michael Letzig, N. Mexico 69-68-137 (-7)2. Ryan Moore, UNLV 69-69-138 (-6)3. Ricky Barnes, Arizona 71-69-140 (-4)4. David Schultz, UNM JV 71-70-141 (-3)5. Chris Nallen, Arizona 71-71-142 (-2) Greg Machtaler, BYU 70-72-142 (-2) Dan Swanson, UTEP 70-72-142 (-2)8. Martin Flores, Oklahoma 71-72-143 (-1) Michael Jurgensen, Ore St. 70-73-143 (-1) Madalitso Muthiya, N. Mex. 70-73-143 (-1) Doug Manor, Oklahoma 70-73-143 (-1) Andrew Dresser, Texas Tech 74-69-143 (-1)
San Diego State IndividualsT-20. Mark Warman 71-74-145 (+1)T-24. John Lieber 76-70-146 (+2)T-33. Lars Johansson 73-74-147 (+3)T-33. Gilberto Rodriguez 75-72-147 (+3)T-59. Andrew Scott 75-77-152 (+8)
T-14. John Lepak* 73-71-144 (E)
*Competing as an individual