Oct. 28, 2010
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State junior golfer Alex Kang has been named the Mountain West Conference Men's Golfer of the Month for October. The league announced the award Thursday.
Kang capped off an outstanding 2010 fall season with an individual title at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, his second career win, Oct.18-19. He became the first Aztec to break 200 in a 54-hole event, firing a 197 to beat the previous SDSU record of 201 by former All-American and current Canadian Tour money leader Aaron Goldberg. Kang's first-round 62 was a career low, and also tied the school record for the lowest round.
Over the event's 54 holes, Kang fired 16 birdies, an eagle and only two bogey or worse scores. With the win, Kang moved to seventh nationally in the Golfstat Cup Standings and 17th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He has also helped carry the Aztecs to a top-15 team ranking by both outlets.
Earlier in the month, the Oak Park, Calif., product was instrumental in helping SDSU take home the 16-team William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque. The Aztecs rallied from a seven-stroke deficit in the final round. Kang's 1-over 217 tied him for seventh in the field of 88 players.
For the season, Kang has fired six rounds in the 60s, six rounds under par and leads the Mountain West Conference with a 69.67 stroke average. His 62 at the Alister MacKenzie is the conference's lowest round this season, three strokes better than freshman teammate Todd Baek.
With the honor, Kang is the seventh different Aztec to receive the award in the conference's history, joining John Lieber (Feb. 2002), Mark Warman (March 2002), Andrew Scott (Nov. 2005, March 2006), Aaron Goldberg (Oct. 2006, Nov. 2006, March 2007, Jan./Feb. 2008, March 2008) and teammates Johan Carlsson (Nov. 2008) and J.J. Spaun (April 2010).
The San Diego State men's golf team will resume action in 2011, when the Aztecs open their spring campaign at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Jan. 31-Feb. 1.