Sept. 14, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format
The San Diego State women's golf team starts its 2010-11 campaign this week, as the Aztecs travel to the 31st annual Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, Sept. 17-18, at the UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, N.M. SDSU has competed in each of the last seven Dick McGuire Invites over the past eight seasons, as the 2007 edition was not played.
The tournament features two rounds of golf on Friday and the final 18 on Saturday (54 holes total). The shotgun start begins at 8 a.m. MT each day and the event features live scoring on golfstat.com.
San Diego State will enter the tournament as one of the favorites after being ranked No. 29 in the preseason poll. The field also includes No. 21 Ohio State, No. 24 TCU, No. 29 Denver, New Mexico, BYU, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Colorado, Colorado St., Georgia St., Hawai'i, Indiana, Northwestern, Oregon, UNLV and Wyoming.
The Aztecs' best finish at the Dick McGuire since 2002, has been an 11th-place performance in 2003. SDSU was 12th last season in Emilee Klein's first tournament as head coach.
Aztec Starting Five Features A Pair of Newcomers
Second-year head coach Emilee Klein will bring six Aztecs to New Mexico, including senior Stephanie Arcala (Oceanside, Calif.), junior Malin Enarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) and sophomores Gina Clark (Murrieta, Calif.), Christine Wong (Richmond, B.C.) and Alessia Knight (Bologna, Italy) and freshman Rebecca Schneider (Cave Creek, Ariz.)
Wong is coming off an outstanding freshman campaign in which she was named MWC Freshman of the Year. She was SDSU's leader in stroke average at 74.76, and won a pair of tournaments.
Enarsson was the team's top golfer at last year's NCAA regional, while Arcala competed in all of the team's tournaments in 2009-10.
Alessia Knight and Rebecca Schneider will both be making their Aztec debuts this weekend after transferring from Arizona State.
Clark, who played 29 rounds a season ago, will travel with the team and compete as an individual.
Flashback: 2009 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire
The San Diego State women's golf team began the Emilee Klein era with a 12th-place finish at the 2009 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational. The Aztecs finished just two strokes out of the top 10.
SDSU's team score of 905 was a whopping 24 shots better than 2008's 13th-place finish.
The Aztecs were led by freshman Christine Wong, who finished 15th in her first collegiate tournament. Wong fired a pair of sub-par rounds to begin the week, and only a 6-over 79 in the final round dropped her out of the top 10. She ended the tournament at 1-over 220. The Aztecs' next best finisher was Malin Enarsson, whose 7-over 226 earned her a 35th-place performance. Enarsson jumped 21 spots on the leaderboard with a final round 73.
Freshman Gina Clark took 62nd at 12-over 231, junior Stephanie Arcala ended up 79th with a 232, and junior Samantha Roberts (Carlsbad, Calif.) was 84th at 18-over 237.
Rewind: A successful start to the Klein era in 2009-10
SDSU began the 2009-10 campaign with two terrific team performances during the fall season. The Red and Black rattled off consecutive top-five finishes, highlighted by freshman Christine Wong's performance at the Price's Give `Em Five Invitational. In just her third collegiate tournament, Wong fired a 10-under 206 to rout the field by four strokes and earn medalist honors.
In the spring, SDSU won consecutive event titles for the first time since 2005-06, claiming the BYU at Entrada Classic and Anteater Invitational. In both events, Wong, Enarsson and Arcala finished in the top 10.
After a fifth-place finish at the MWC championships, SDSU qualified for its first NCAA regional in six years, coming in a solid 13th out of 24 teams.
I Know What You Did This Summer
The Aztec golf team made good use of its summer months competing as individuals in several events in the Southern California area.
Sophomore Christine Wong had the busiest summer of them all, competing in the 2010 U.S. Women's Open at the historic Oakmont Country Club. Wong qualified for the Open by winning a sectional qualifier, but didn't stop there, finishing as the No. 2 amateur in the field in Pennsylvania. Wong also competed at the LPGA's CN Canadian Women's Open, and is slated to represent Canada at the World Amateur Team Golf Championships in Argentina, Oct. 16-31.
Wong's teammate, senior Samantha Roberts, also had a busy summer, competing at the 110th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in Charlotte, N.C. Roberts fired an 8-over par over the tournament's first two rounds, narrowly missing the cut by a single stroke.
Coming Attractions
SDSU will continue its fall schedule with a trip to Illinois for the Oct. 4-5 Windy City Showdown. Three weeks later, the Aztecs wrap up the fall campaign at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in Boulder City, Nev., Oct. 25-27. Looking ahead, the Aztecs will play host to the inaugural Battle at Rancho Bernardo Inn, set for March 20-22. The 17-team field includes 11 teams included in the Golfweek team rankings, including defending national champion Purdue.
Head Coach Emilee Klein
Head coach and 1996 Women's British Open champion Emilee Klein enters her second season as head coach at San Diego State. Klein's first season was a huge success, as the Aztecs won back-to-back tournaments and reached the NCAA regionals for the first time in six years. Klein is assisted by Tiffany Prats.