Oct. 9, 2011
The 14th-ranked San Diego State men's golf team is one of six squads currently under par after the first round Sunday of the 54-hole The Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. The Aztecs are in sixth place with a 4-under 284, but trail both USF and Arizona State by only two strokes for fourth place at the par-72, 7,156-yard Greg Norman Course at PGA West.
SDSU was led on the first of three days of competition by sophomore Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand), who carded a 4-under 68 to put him in a four-way tie for fourth place. After recording a par on the first hole, Baek eagled the second hole and birdied the third hole. He offset a bogey on the par-4 sixth hole with consecutive birdies and was even through his final 10 holes. Baek's 68 is the team's first sub-70 round of the season and puts him one stroke out of third and two off the lead held by Arizona State's Spencer Fletcher and Stanford's Andrew Yun, who are knotted at 6-under 66.
Aztec senior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) also shot an sub-par round to start the tournament, compiling 13 pars, three birdies and two bogeys to tie for 18th with a 1-under 71. Classmate Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.) trails Kang by one stroke with a 72, highlighted by four birdies to tie for 28th place.
San Diego State's top two golfers at its season-opening event, freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta) and senior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.), are currently its bottom two by a small margin with first-round totals of 73 and 74, respectively.
The Aztecs will be paired with Vanderbilt, USC and Arizona State for Monday's second round, beginning with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. PT from the fifth through ninth holes.
Scores with relation to par, Oct. 9, 2011, at the 12th The Prestige at PGA West, played at the par-72, 7,156-yard Greg Norman Course at PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif.
Team Scoring (Top 6 of 16 teams)
1 Oregon 279 (-9)2 Stanford 280 (-8) Washington 280 (-8)4 Arizona State 282 (-6) USF 282 (-6)6 San Diego State 284 (-4)
Top Four Individuals (Top 4 of 84 players)1 Spencer Fletcher, ASU 66 (-6) Andrew Yun, Stanford 66 (-6)3 Adam Hoffmann, Vanderbilt 67 (-5)4 Four tied 68 (-4)
San Diego StateT4 Todd Baek 68 (-4)T18 Alex Kang 71 (-1)T28 Matt Hoffenberg 72 (E)T38 Wilson Bateman 73 (+1)T49 J.J. Spaun 74 (+2)