Sept. 29, 2008
BREMERTON, Wash. - The San Diego State men's golf team finds itself in third place after two rounds following a 9-over par 585 performance on Monday at the Husky Invitational. Host school Washington leads the tournament with a score of 11-under and is followed by California (-4) and the Aztecs.
Johan Carlsson, who ended the day in a tie for third place with Washington's Jens Bracht at -3, fired SDSU's best round of the day with a 5-under 68 after the first 18 holes thanks to four birdies and an eagle on the back nine. For much of the second round, the sophomore continued his consistent play and either led the field or was in a tie for the top spot until he ran into trouble at holes 14-17 where he posted four straight bogeys en route to a 1-over 73.
Unlike Carlsson, the Aztec duo of Matt Hoffenberg and David Palm experienced tremendous success on the second 18 after shooting 77(+5) and 76(+4), respectively, to open the tournament. Hoffenberg, the Mountain West Conference freshman of the year in 2008, rebounded nicely and shot a 71(-1), while All-American Palm shot an even-par 72. Both head into Tuesday's final round tied for 19th at 4-over.
At 5-over par is J.J. Spaun, a freshman from San Dimas, Calif., who finished his first two rounds of collegiate golf with scores of 74 and 75 and finds himself in a tie for 22nd place (149; +5). Classmate Alex Kang is currently three shots behind Spaun and in a tie for 39th with a day one total of 152(+8).
A third freshman, Andrew Cooley, also made the trip to the Pacific Northwest and is in alone in eighth place after competing as an individual. Cooley fired a 1-under 71 and a 1-over 73 over the first two rounds to finish at even par (144).
On the individual leaderboard, Carlsson is just two shots behind Washington's Chris Killmer, who is at -5, and one shot back of Cal's Michael Jensen (-4).
Final round action will get underway at 8:30 a.m. PT Tuesday morning with SDSU grouped with the Huskies and Golden Bears.
Husky Invitational
Olympic Course at Gold Mountain (Par 72; 7,111 yards)
Bremerton, Wash.
Top 5 teams out of 11 (36 holes)
1. Washington - 283-282--565 (-11)
2. California - 285-287--572 (-4)
3. San Diego State - 294-291--585 (+9)
4. Oregon - 298-292--590 (+14)
5. Pacific - 296-299--595 (+19)
Individuals
Top 5 out of 66 and SDSU only
1. Chris Killmer (Washington) - 70-69--139 (-5)
2. Michael Jensen (California) - 69-71--140 (-4)
T3. Johan Carlsson (SDSU) - 68-73--141 (-3)
T3. Jens Bracht (Washington) - 72-69--141 (-3)
T5. Eric Mina (California) - 71-72--143 (-1)
T5. John Murphy (California) - 73-70--143 (-1)
T5. Nick Taylor (Washington) - 72-71--143 (-1)
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8. Andrew Cooley (SDSU)* - 71-73--144 (E)
T19. Matt Hoffenberg (SDSU) - 77-71--148 (+4)
T19. David Palm (SDSU) - 76-72--148 (+4)
T22. J.J. Spaun (SDSU) - 74-75--149 (+5)
T39. Alex Kang (SDSU) - 76-76--152 (+8)
* competing as an individual