Feb. 27, 2012
The No. 18 San Diego State men's golf team has a five-stroke lead through 36 holes Monday at the 14-team North Ranch Intercollegiate in Westlake Village, Calif. The Aztecs, who have three golfers in the individual top seven, posted a 281 followed by a 292 en-route to a 13-over 573, which is five strokes better than USD and 11 in front of fellow conference member New Mexico at the par-70, 6,728-yard North Ranch Country Club.
SDSU seniors Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.) and Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) are tied for the day one lead by two strokes at 1-under 139. Hoffenberg opened with the best round of the tournament thus far with his 4-under 66, including six birdies, 10 pars and only two bogeys on the fourth and ninth holes. The 66 is his best 18 holes of the season by five strokes and ties the team's low round in 2011-12. Hoffenberg came back with a 3-over 73 in the afternoon, carding 10 pars on his first 11 holes.
Kang, meanwhile, leads the field in par 4 scoring at 1-under and is tied for first place with his eight birdies. He had four birdies in each round, starting with a 3-under 67 and following it up with a 2-over 72.
Fellow senior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) recovered from an opening 74 to move from 23rd all the way into a tie for seventh place with a second-round 71. Spaun's 5-under 145 included 27 pars, four birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey and a quadruple bogey, which both came in the opening18 holes.
SDSU freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta) fired consecutive 76s to tie for 30th place, while junior Tom Berry (New Haw, England) had a 74 to start the tournament, but then ran into some trouble on his final nine holes of the day when he was 9-over par to drop from 23rd into 40th.
Teams will finish out the tournament with the final round on Tuesday, beginning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. PT. Live scoring is available via golfstat.com.
North Ranch Intercollegiate
Westlake Village, Calif.
North Ranch Country Club (Par-70, 6,728 yards)
Results Through 36 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 5 of 14 teams)
1 San Diego State 281-292-573 (+13)2 San Diego 284-294-578 (+18)3 New Mexico 289-295-584 (+24)4 Pepperdine 289-308-597 (+37)5 Pacific 297-302-599 (+39)
Top Three Individuals (Top 4 of 72 players)1 Matt Hoffenberg, SDSU 66-73-139 (-1) Alex Kang, SDSU 67-72-139 (-1)3 Leon Knoll, USD 68-73-141 (+1) Josh Anderson, Pepperdine 69-72-139 (+1)
Other San Diego State GolfersT7 J.J. Spaun 74-71-145 (+5)T30 Wilson Bateman 76-76-152 (+12)T40 Tom Berry 74-81-155 (+15)