Oct. 11, 2011
San Diego State sophomore Todd Baek tied for third and senior Alex Kang tied for fifth as The Prestige at PGA West came to a close Tuesday in La Quinta, Calif. As a team, the No. 14 Aztecs, who improved from sixth to third following the second round, dropped one slot into fourth on the final leaderboard with a 54-hole total of 21-under 843, including a final-round 285 at the par-72, 7,156-yard Greg Norman Course at PGA West.
SDSU was three strokes behind third place Stanford, which is ranked first nationally by golfstat.com. Oregon held off Washington for the team title by two strokes with a 32-under 832, including a final-round 280. The top four squads had a huge cushion between them and the rest of the field as Duke and San Francisco tied for fifth at 8-under 856.
Baek (Auckland, New Zealand) posted the third top-five finish of his short collegiate career, following consecutive rounds of 68 with a 70 over the final 18 holes. Baek birdied his second hole of the day, but later carded back-to-back bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes. He finished strong, however, tallying three birdies and eight pars to end the tournament at 10-under 206.
Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), meanwhile, moved up one spot on the individual leaderboard into fifth place, utilizing his second consecutive sub-70 score to end the event at 9-under 207. He had a team-best six birdies offset by a bogey on the par-4 sixth hole and a double-bogey on the par-3 13th hole to log his third straight under-par round with a 69. Kang also led the entire 84-golfer field in par-4 scoring at 7-under.
SDSU freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta) was the third San Diego State player in the top 30, tying for 30th place at 1-under 215. Bateman, who fired a career-low 68 in the second round, ran into early trouble with a bogey on the first and third holes and a double bogey on the six hole. He gained back two strokes over the next seven holes with a pair of birdies, before ending the day with two pars, two bogeys and a birdie for a 74.
After posting only one double bogey through the first 36 holes, Aztec senior Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.) had three in the final round, which he was able offset with four birdies for a 76, dropping him from 28th into a tie for 49th with a 219. Classmate J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) jumped one spot from 59th into 58th place with his first even-par round of the tournament with a 72.
Washington's Cheng-Tsung Pan had an incredible final round, posting a 7-under 65 with five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys to go from third to first and claim medalist honors by three strokes with a 15-under 201.
The Aztecs conclude the fall portion of their 2011-12 schedule next week as they travel to the Bay Area for the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Oct. 17-18, at The Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.
Final Results Through 54 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 5 of 16 teams)
1 Oregon 279-273-280-832 (-32)2 Washington 280-277-277-834 (-30)3 Stanford 280-282-278-840 (-24)4 San Diego State 284-274-285-843 (-21)5 Duke 289-285-282-856 (-8)
Top Four Individuals (Top 4 of 84 players)1 Cheng-Tsung Pan, Wash. 69-67-65-201 (-15)2 Eugene Wong, Oregon 70-64-70-204 (-12)3 Todd Baek, SDSU 68-68-70-206 (-10) Alex Ching, USD 71-67-68-206 (-10)
Other San Diego StateT5 Alex Kang 71-67-69-207 (-9)T30 Wilson Bateman 73-68-74-215 (-1)T49 Matt Hoffenberg 72-71-76-219 (+3)T58 J.J. Spaun 74-75-72-221 (+5)