May 3, 2011
SDSU Men's Golf MWC Tournament Notes in PDF Format
Coming off an 18-day break, the San Diego State men's golf team seeks its first Mountain West Conference title starting Thursday at the par-71, 7,144-yard OMNI Tucson National Golf Resort in Tucson, Ariz. The No. 7 Aztecs are one of five teams ranked in the top 70 nationally in the nine-school field that will compete at the 54-hole event, which runs May 5-7.
SDSU has finished second five times, including each of the last two seasons at the MWC championships. A year ago, Colorado State claimed both the team and individual titles, as the Rams logged an all-time conference tournament low of 18-under 834, to defeat the Aztecs by 13 strokes.
This is the fifth consecutive year that the league tournament has been played at the OMNI Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa. The Aztecs have already competed in the state of Arizona twice this spring at the Arizona Invitational at Arizona National in Tucson (Jan. 31-Feb. 1) and more recently at the Thunderbird Invitational at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe (April 9-10).
Teams play 18 holes each of the three days, following a practice round Wednesday afternoon. The Aztecs will be paired with TCU and UNLV for the first round, starting at 7 a.m. PT from the first tee on Thursday. Live tournament stats will be available on goaztecs.com as well as golfstat.com.
Aztec Line-Up For This Week
Eighth-year San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan will bring a senior, three juniors and a sophomore to this week's Mountain West Conference championships.
Senior Johan Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden), juniors Colin Featherstone (Fallbrook, Calif.) and J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) and sophomore Tom Berry (New Haw, England) all competed for the Aztecs at the 2010 edition, while junior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) skipped last season but played in the 2009 MWC tourney in his first year as a collegian.
Carlsson is the most experienced Aztec in the line-up with his fourth consecutive trip. His highest finish came his sophomore campaign when he took sixth with a 2-under 211. Spaun in the only other SDSU player to have competed in more than one MWC tournament prior to this season.
SDSU's top finisher at last year's championship was Berry who placed third with a 5-under 208, including a second-round 65.
The Competition
At seventh nationally, San Diego State is by far the top ranked squad in this week's event. The next best would be No. 36 UNLV, followed closely by No. 39 TCU. The 65th-ranked Colorado State Rams, the No. 69 New Mexico Lobos and the No. 94 BYU Cougars are the other MWC squads in the nation's top 100. Wyoming (No. 139), Utah (No. 173) and Air Force (No. 191) round out the field.
The Aztecs, who were ranked 31st at this time last year, own a combined head-to-head record of 21-0 vs. Mountain West Conference foes in 2010-11. SDSU is 5-0 against both BYU and New Mexico and 3-0 in tournaments with Colorado State and Utah. TCU is the only opponent the team has yet to face this season.
Individually, reigning MWC medalist, CSU's Ryan Peterson, boasts the league's best season stroke average at 71.67, followed by BYU's Zac Blair at 71.74. San Diego State's J.J. Spaun is third at 71.79, but is the highest ranked golfer in the conference, standing at No. 53 in the Golfstat Cup and No. 59 by Golfweek/Sagarin.
Only five of the 11 golfers that finished the 2010 MWC tourney at even par or better are returning this season, including Spaun, Peterson, SDSU's Tom Berry, UNLV's Derek Ernst and BYU's Esteban Calisto.
SDSU In The MWC Tournament
In the 11-year history of the Mountain West Conference, SDSU has finished second on five occasions (2010, 2009, 2006, 2003, 2001), placed fourth three times (2005, 2004, 2002), came in fifth twice (2007, 2000) and ended up seventh once (2008).
The last two seasons, the Aztecs have been the league runner-up, losing in a playoff to TCU in 2009 and falling by a wider 13-stroke margin to Colorado State in 2010.
SDSU's best individual performance came in 2001, when John Lepak posted a 3-over 219 to win by one stroke at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon. Adam Porzak also tied for first place in regulation in 2007, but came up just short in a playoff hole to TCU's Robby Ormand.
An Aztec has placed among the top three each of the last five seasons and nine times overall.
Mountain West History Lesson
• Five schools have won at least one Mountain West Conference title with only one, New Mexico, claiming consecutive championships. UNLV finished atop the standings in two of the first three MWC championships in 2000 and 2002, BYU placed first in 2001 and 2007, UNM won four in a row from 2003-06, and TCU earned its lone title in 2009. Four teams have combined to win the five most recent tournaments with Colorado State doing so twice during that span in 2008 and 2010.
• Six different schools have had a player win the individual title, including SDSU (2001), UNLV (2000, 2004, 2008), New Mexico (2003, 2009), Colorado State (2002, 2010), BYU (2005) and TCU (2007).
• The first MWC championship took place at the PGA West course in Palm Desert, Calif., before moving to the Crosswater course at the Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore., for six years in a row. The tournament has since been played at the Catalina Course at the OMNI Tucson National Resort in Arizona.
In The National Rankings
San Diego State moved up one spot to seventh nationally in the latest golfstat.com rankings released last Wednesday. With five tournament victories in 2010-11, including four in seven spring events, the Aztecs continue to be tied for second nationally with Alabama, Florida and Iowa, trailing only No. 1 Oklahoma State which has claimed six titles.
SDSU has also been rated eighth in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin (as of April 27) and is eighth in the Golf World/NIKE Golf Division I Coaches' Poll, which was released on April 27.
Aztec 10-11 Highlights
The San Diego State men's golf team is in the midst of one of the finest seasons in program history. The Aztecs have been ranked as high as fourth nationally by golfstat.com and have won five tournament titles, including four in eight spring starts. The team has 10 top-five finishes, including nine in the top three, and boasts a combined head-to-head record of 134-16, which amounts to a 89.3 winning percentage. SDSU hasn't finished lower than seventh at any 2010-11 outing and was named GolfWeek national Team of the Week on March 7, following its upset of top-ranked UCLA at the USC Intercollegiate.
Individually, juniors Alex Kang (Alister MacKenzie Invitational) and J.J. Spaun (ASU Thunderbird Invitational), have each picked up medalist honors during the campaign. Kang was tabbed MWC golfer of the month in November and Spaun garnered the same honor in February in March, before being named Golfweek national player of the week on April 11, following his victory in Tempe.
Rewind: Aztecs Post 10th Top-Five Finish Of 2010-11
The fifth-ranked San Diego State men's golf team logged its 10th top-five finish of the season and its seventh in eight spring tournaments at the 65th annual Western Intercollegiate at the par-70, 6,615-yard Pasatiempo Golf Course, April 16-17. The Aztecs finished the 15-team event in fifth place at 35-over 1085, nine behind No. 7 Augusta State and No. 26 Oregon, who tied for third place.
SDSU junior Colin Featherstone had his best performance of the spring campaign, taking eighth with a 2-over 212, including a final-round 70. His 212, which included 10 birdies, was three strokes better than his previous best this spring of 215 at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational and marked the first time he's finished as the team's top golfer this season.
Classmate Alex Kang came in three strokes behind Featherstone with a 5-over 215 to place 15th, while senior Johan Carlsson was consistent all tournament with three rounds of 73 to tie for 29th at 9-over 219.
Junior J.J. Spaun moved up seven spots in the final 18 holes to tie freshman Todd Baek on the individual leaderboard for 39th place at 11-over 221. Sophomore Tom Berry rounded out the SDSU contingent in 52nd place with a 223.
Up Next
The winner of this week's Mountain West Conference championship earns an automatic bid to the NCAA regional tournament, May 19-21. This year's regional sites include one in the Aztecs' backyard as USD will play host at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. San Diego State, however, could also get sent to Golden Ocala Golf Club in Ocala, Fla., Pete Dye River Course in Blacksburg, Va., Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Ind., Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo., or the Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz.
With its No. 7 national ranking, San Diego State is all but assured of its 13th consecutive and 16th overall trip to the NCAA regional round, which began back in 1989.
In all, 81 teams and 45 individuals not on those squads will be divided up among the six regional tournaments. The participants will be selected by the NCAA men's golf committee and are announced on May 9.
Thirty teams and two individuals (not on those teams) will advance to the NCAA championships, May 31-June 5, at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla. The Aztecs have made the national championships 20 times in school history, including four times (1999, 2003, 2005, 2008) since the regional format made its debut.
Head Coach Ryan Donovan
Head coach Ryan Donovan is in his eighth season at the helm of the SDSU golf program after serving as an assistant in 2003. A native of Yorba Linda, Calif., he was a four-year member of the Aztec golf squad, before graduating in 2001.
Donovan recently signed a new three-year contract, which will keep him at his alma mater at least until 2012-13.