Feb. 1, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format
The San Diego State men's golf team claimed its second team title of the 2010-11 season, winning the 15-school Arizona Intercollegiate by eight strokes over second place Pepperdine Tuesday at the par-71, 6,793-yard Arizona National Golf Club. The Aztecs posted a two-day, 54-hole total of 7-over 859 in its first tournament since mid-October and has now placed in the top three of all four of its events this season.
"I give our players a lot of credit, they were well prepared and worked hard during the offseason, which really showed," Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan said. "The weather conditions made for an exciting tournament, but the guys were very encouraging to each other and the win is a great way to start the spring."
SDSU had three golfers place in the top 15 on the individual leaderboard, including freshman Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand), who moved from seventh into a tie for third place with his final round 3-under 68, which included three birdies and 15 pars. Baek tied with UNLV's Derek Ernst at 2-under 211, two strokes behind Arizona's Stefan Cox and five in back of Pepperdine's Andrew Putnam, who claimed medalist honors with a 206. Only four in the 93-golfer field managed to break par at the tournament, which featured rain and hail on the first day and wind and even a frost delay on day two.
Aztec junior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) logged his fourth top-10 performance in as many tries this year, tying for seventh place at 3-over 216, highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 second hole in the final round. Classmate J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) was in fourth place at 1-under par through the first 36 holes, but had five bogeys and a double bogey for a 77 over the final 18 to settle for a 14th-place finish at 218.
Redshirt junior Colin Featherstone (Fallbrook, Calif.) matched Spaun's final-round 77, but still ended up tied for 23rd with an 8-over 221, while senior Johan Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) moved from 64th place all the way to a tie for 38th with his low round of the tournament at 1-under 70, including four birdies and an eagle on the 11th hole.
San Diego State also won the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque this past October, marking the second consecutive year that the team has claimed two tournament titles in the same season.
The Aztecs will be back in action in two weeks at the Battle At The Beach event in Newport Beach, Calif., Feb. 13-15.
Scores with relation to par, Feb. 1, 2011, at the Arizona Intercollegiate, played at the par-71, 6,793-yard Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.
Team Scoring Through 54 holes (Top 5 of 16 teams (Arizona had two teams))
1 San Diego State 285-286-288-859 (+7)
2 Pepperdine 285-289-293-867 (+15)
3 Arizona 289-297-283-869 (+17)
Pacific 289-290-290-869 (+17)
5 Three tied 879 (+27)
Top Five Individuals (Top 5 of 93 players)
1 Andrew Putnam, Pepperdine 65-71-70-206 (-7)
2 Stefan Cox, Arizona 67-74-68-209 (-4)
3 Todd Baek, SDSU 71-72-68-211 (-2)
Derek Ernst, UNLV 73-65-73-211 (-2)
5 Tom Carlson, New Mexico 71-72-68-214 (+1)
Other San Diego State Golfers
T7 Alex Kang 72-71-73-216 (+3)
T14 J.J. Spaun 71-70-77-218 (+5)
T23 Colin Featherstone 71-73-77-221 (+8)
T38 Johan Carlsson 77-78-70-225 (+12)