April 29, 2004
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State leads the MWC Championship after the first day of competition in Sunriver, Ore. as they shot even-par 288 on Thursday and will take a one shot lead into the final two days of action. The Aztecs were led by senior Mark Warman who posted a three-under-par 69 to grab second place as an individual and sophomore Jeff Hansen who shot two-under 70 and is in third. SDSU is seeking its first-ever conference title after finishing second in two of the last four championships. The tournament will conclude with 18-hole rounds on Friday and Saturday.
The Aztecs started Thursday's round on the back-nine and Warman got off to a hot start with birdies on three of his first four holes. However, he bogeyed his next hole and No. 18 to make the turn at one-under 35. Warman got things back on track with birdies at No. 2 and No. 4 and finished with five pars. The senior sits in second place but is five strokes off the pace of Colorado State's Martin Laird, who fired an MWC tournament record 64. The two rivals have a history as Laird won the 2002 conference title as a sophomore, placing three strokes ahead of second-place Warman.
Hansen had a steady day with only two bogeys and four birdies. The sophomore knows how to win tournaments as he is one of only two Aztecs to take medallist honors this season, as he won the Oregon Duck Invitational by shooting five-under 211.
Freshman Aaron Goldberg shot a two-over 74 in his first postseason round. Goldberg, coming off a victory at the U.S. Intercollegiate, was one-under after 10 holes after posting three birdies but a double-bogey and a bogey coming in dropped him to 12th.
Andrew Scott opened with a slow start with bogeys on four of his first five holes, but was able to turn it on as he finished with a three-over 75. Scott used birdies on three of his first four holes on his final nine to get back to one-over before a double bogey pushed him to his final total and 18th place. Aaron Choi rounded out the Aztec scoring with a 78.
First Round RESULTS MWC Championships Crosswater G.C. Sunriver, Ore. Dates: 04/29-5/1 (Today:04-29-2004) Par: 72 Yardage: 7568
Fin. School Scores 1 San Diego State 288 E 2 Colorado State 289 +1 3 BYU 292 +4 3 Utah 293 +5 4 New Mexico 295 +7 5 UNLV 296 +8 6 Wyoming 307 +18 8 Air Force 320 +32
San Diego State 2 Mark Warman SanDiegoSt 69 T3 Jeff Hansen SanDiegoSt 70 -2 T12 Aaron Goldberg SanDiegoSt 74 +2 T18 Andrew Scott SanDiegoSt 75 +3 T27 Aaron Choi SanDiegoSt 78 +6