Sept. 8, 2011
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's golf team has achieved a No. 6 national ranking in Golfweek's preseason top 10, which was released Thursday. The Aztecs, who return four of five starters from last year's NCAA tournament squad, trail only Alabama (No. 1), UCLA (No. 2), Stanford (No. 3), Georgia Tech (No. 4) and Texas (No. 5).
The No. 6 spot is SDSU's second preseason top-15 ranking after being slotted in the 14th position in the Golf World/Nike Golf Division I College Preseason Coaches' Poll released in late August. The Aztecs are the only Mountain West squad in either the Golfweek top 30 or the coaches' poll top 25. Last year, the team finished the season ranked ninth by Golfweek/Sagarin and was 12th by golfstat.com.
This past Wednesday, three San Diego State golfers, seniors J.J. Spaun and Alex Kang and sophomore Todd Baek, were among the Golf World 50 Men's College Players to Watch. SDSU tied with Alabama for having the most players represented on the list with three apiece. In addition to that honor, Golfweek writer Asher Wildman singled out Spaun as the team's "go-to guy".
San Diego State, under ninth-year head coach Ryan Donovan, returns six letterwinners from last year's squad that won seven tournament titles, including the program's first Mountain West and NCAA regional championships. The Aztecs' seven victories were second-most in the country, trailing only Oklahoma State, which had eight. The team had 13 top-five finishes, including 12 in the top three, while boasting a combined head-to-head record of 168-31-1 (84.3). SDSU did not finish lower than seventh at any 2010-11 outing prior to the NCAA national championships and twice was named the national team of the week by GolfWeek.
The Aztecs reported to campus for the fall semester last week and will kick off their 2011 fall schedule later this month.