March 21, 2012
SAN DIEGO - The 12th-ranked San Diego State men's golf team will play host to the annual Barona Collegiate Cup, beginning this Thursday at the par-72, 7,088-yard Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, Calif. The 54-hole, two-day tournament will include 16 of the nation's top teams and 108 total players. Both days will get underway with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. PDT, with teams covering 36 holes on Thursday and the final 18 on Friday.
The event will employ a unique scoring format as squads will include six players each with the low five scores per round counting toward the team total. The No. 12 Aztecs will be joined by eight other squads rated in the top 50 nationally including No. 10 Georgia Tech, No. 11 USC, No. 25 Kent State, No. 35 Saint Mary's, No. 36 North Texas, No. 41 Illinois, No. 42 TCU and No. 50 Arizona. Also in this year's field are Central Connecticut, Hawai'i, Loyola Marymount, Northwestern, Pacific, Pepperdine and Utah.
SDSU head coach Ryan Donovan will bring eight golfers to the tournament with his starting six including seniors Colin Featherstone (Fallbrook, Calif.), Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.), Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) and J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.), junior Tom Berry (New Haw, England) and freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta). Redshirt junior Evan Emerick (Oceanside, Calif.) and newcomer Cameron Tennant (Woodland Hills, Calif.) will also compete as an individuals.
The Aztecs head into the Barona Collegiate Cup having won three straight events, the North Ranch Intercollegiate, The Farms Intercollegiate and the National Invitational Tournament. The squad has also boasted the medalist at each of its last three events with Hoffenberg winning the first and Spaun claiming first place in each of the last two outings.
San Diego State has earned back-to-back Baron Collegiate Cup titles in both 2010 and 2011, rallying for a seven-stroke victory over crosstown rival San Diego with a 1-under 1,079 a year ago.
Live stats for both days of the tournament will be available on golfstat.com, as well as SDSU's official website, goaztecs.com.