March 9, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. -
In a quest to defend its tournament title at the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic, the San Diego State men's golf team finds itself just eight strokes back of first place after day one. Propelled by a trio of players in the top-20, the Aztecs finished the first two rounds of play at the 6,511-yard, par-72 Belmont Country Club in fifth place after carding a two round total of 16-over par 592. Redshirt freshman Colin Featherstone led the Scarlet and Black on the first day and finds himself in a tie for 13th place on the individual leaderboard going into the final round.
In his spring debut, Featherstone started the spring season off on a high note, posting a 2-over-par on the first day to pace the Aztecs. After an opening round 3-over-par, the Fallbrook, Calif. native brushed off the first round jitters to fire a 1-under-par 71, including an eagle on the par-5 12th in the second round.
Sophomore Johan Carlsson opened up tournament play with a pair of 2-over-par performances. The Gothenburg, Sweden product sits just two strokes back of Featherstone on the individual leaderboard in a tie for 18th place.
J.J. Spaun matched Carlsson on the individual leaderboard with his own 4-over-par two round total. After shooting an even-par 72 over the first 18 holes, the freshman from San Dimas, Calif. was unable to duplicate his first round success and finished the afternoon round with a 4-over-par 76.
Meanwhile, freshman Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) rallied from a 79 in the first round to drop five strokes in his second 18 holes to finish the first day at 9-over-par. Rounding out the Aztec delegation was sophomore Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.), who experienced difficulty on day one, carding rounds of 76 and 78 en route to a two-round total of 10-over 154 to sit in a tie for 64th position.
Andrew Cooley, who is competing as an individual, finds himself in a tie for 10th place after the first day. The freshman from New Haw, Surrey, England opened up tournament play with a first-round score of 1-over-par 73, but offset that with an even-par round in the afternoon session. He was able to move up four spots on the individual leaderboard and currently sits just five shots back of first place.
The third and final round of the 54-hole Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic will get underway Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT, with SDSU grouped with UC Irvine, Nevada and San Jose State. For live tournament scoring, please check out the live scoring link on GoAztecs.com.
Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic
Belmont Country Club (6,511 yard, par 72)
Fresno, Calif.
Top-Five Teams
T1 UC Davis, 292-292-- 584 (+8)
T1 Washington, 299-285-- 584 (+8)
T3 Fresno State, 290-300-- 590 (+14)
T3 Brigham Young, 296-294-- 590 (+14)
5 San Diego State, 297-295-- 592 (+16)
Top-Five Individuals plus SDSU
1 Phil Huffman, UC Davis (-5)
2 Michael Im, UC-Irvine (-3)
T3 Todd Angel, Fresno State (-2)
T3 Taylor Coffman, Nevada (-2)
T3 Nick Taylor, Washington (-2)
T10 Andrew Cooley, San Diego State (+1)*
T13 Colin Featherstone, San Diego State (+2)
T20 Johan Carlsson, San Diego State (+4)
T20 J.J. Spaun, San Diego State (+4)
T58 Alex Kang, San Diego State (+9)
T64 Matt Hoffenberg, San Diego State (+10)
* Player is competing as an individual