Oct. 17, 2011
Alister MacKenzie Day One Results
In a tournament where 13 of 16 teams are under par through 36 holes, the San Diego State men's golf squad is tied for third at 24-under 544 Monday at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in Fairfax, Calif. The Aztecs carded consecutive rounds of 272 and are tied with the University of San Francisco for third place, trailing second place and host California by four strokes and second-ranked Oregon by six strokes at the par-71, 6,718-yard The Meadow Club.
SDSU has two golfers tie for sixth place on the individual leaderboard. Senior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), who is the event's defending medalist, was 5-under in the morning round with five birdies and an eagle, while in the afternoon he was near perfect with 13 pars and four birdies before bogeying his final hole of the day, the par-4 second, for an 8-under 134.
Aztec sophomore Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand), who was the runner-up to Kang a year ago, matched the 134 to also tie for sixth place with an opening effort of 1-under 70, followed by a career-low round of 7-under 64. Baek's 64 featured eight birdies with three in a row on holes 15-17 and only one bogey.
Senior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) had a strong first 18 holes with a 4-under 67, highlighted by five birdies and jone bogey. In the second round, however, he had four bogeys over a six-hole span, finishing with a 1-over 72 to put him in a tie for 22nd place with a 3-under 139. Teammate junior Tom Berry (New Haw, England) is only one stroke behind Spaun in a tie for 26th place with a 140, including a first-round 2-under 69 with seven birdies, seven pars, three bogeys and one double bogey.
Freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta), who is the only Aztec to have not previously played at The Meadow Club, got off to a rough start with five bogeys and one double bogey in his first 10 holes. Bateman, however, evened out with six pars and two birdies for a first-round 75. In the afternoon, he utilized a 2-under 69 with only one over-par hole to move from 68th into a tie for 55th with a 2-over 144.
Oregon's Eugene Wong, who is currently the 11th-ranked player nationally by golfstat.com, leads the field by four strokes with a 14-under 138, including 16 birdies and just two bogeys over the 36 holes. UC Irvine's Pete Fernandez and Cal's Max Homa are tied for second at 10-under 132.
The Aztecs will be paired with Oregon, Cal and USF for their final round of their 2011 fall schedule on Tuesday morning beginning from the first hole at 8:50 a.m. PT.
Alister MacKenzie Invitational
Fairfax, Calif. - The Meadow Club (Par-71, 6,718 yards)
Results Through 36 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 4 of 16 teams)
1 Oregon 270-268-538 (-30)2 California 273-267-540 (-28)3 San Diego State 272-272-544 (-24) San Francisco 268-276-544 (-24)
Top Three Individuals (Top 3 of 80 players)1 Eugene Wong, Oregon 65-63-128 (-14)2 Pete Fernandez, UCI 64-68-132 (-10) Max Homa, California 66-66-132 (-10)
San Diego StateT6 Todd Baek 70-64-134 (-8)T6 Alex Kang 66-68-134 (-8)T22 J.J. Spaun 67-72-139 (-3)T26 Tom Berry 69-71-140 (-2)T55 Wilson Bateman 75-69-144 (+2)