March 8, 2015
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's golf team resumes its spring schedule in full swing this week when it participates in the Lamkin San Diego Classic, March 9-10, in Chula Vista, Calif. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, co-hosted by the Aztecs and the University of San Diego, will be held on the par-72, 7,033-yard San Diego Country Club.
SDSU is among an impressive list of 14 teams that will convene for the eighth annual event. Ten of the schools find themselves ranked in the nation's top 100 by Golfstat.com, including the No. 27 Aztecs, along with 17th-ranked Washington, No. 24 North Carolina, 29th-ranked New Mexico, No. 64 USD and 66th-ranked Oregon State, No. 81 Brigham Young, 95th-ranked Louisiana Tech, No. 96 Arizona and 98th-ranked Pepperdine. In addition, SDSU will battle Notre Dame and UC Riverside, while a pair of local squads, UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos, round out the field.
The Aztecs will be paired with Arizona, Washington and USD for the first two rounds, which will commence Monday in a shotgun start at 8 a.m. PT, while the final 18 holes will be contested on Tuesday with tee times as early as 7:30 a.m. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available for both days on GoAztecs.com
SDSU's entire 12-man roster will be competing at this week's tournament, featuring the starting lineup of senior Xander Schauffele (San Diego, Calif.), sophomore Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.), junior Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), freshman PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii) and junior Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy).
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan will also have seven golfers participating as individuals, including senior James Holley (Chatsworth, Calif.), junior Michael Koeneke (San Diego, Calif.), sophomore Ricky DeSantis (Carlsbad, Calif.), along with freshmen Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.), Wonje Choi (San Diego, Calif.) and Pablo Matesanz (Irun, Spain).
SDSU has received a tremendous boost of late from Schauffele, who finds himself at No. 14 in the latest Golfstat individual rankings. The Scripps Ranch High alumnus leads the team with a 70.39 stroke average on the year and has posted consecutive second-place finishes at The Prestige at PGA WEST and the National Invitational Tournament, following a medal-winning performance at the Barona Collegiate Cup in the squad's spring opener last month. For his efforts, Schauffele has collected three straight Mountain West Men's Golfer of the Week awards.
The Lamkin San Diego Classic is entering its eighth season and fifth as a two-day, 54-hole competition. The tournament, formerly known as the San Diego Intercollegiate, was launched in 2008 primarily as an opportunity for local schools to compete against one another. The event has now expanded from local competition to host teams from all across the nation.
This is the sixth time overall and fifth year in a row that the Lamkin San Diego Classic will be held at San Diego Country Club. The inaugural event took place at the Chula Vista course and moved to the La Jolla Country Club in 2009, followed by a one-year stint at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in 2010. Before becoming a two-day tournament in 2011, the tournament was a one-day, 36-hole challenge.
USC (-12) was the team champion a year ago, but will not be participating in this season's event, leaving SDSU as the top returning squad. In 2014, the Aztecs (-5) finished a combined seven shots off the pace in the runner-spot, but boasted the individual winner as Schauffele took home medalist honors after carding a collective 11-under 205, highlighted by a 67 on the final day.
The previous year in 2013, SDSU claimed its only team championship in the history of the event, while USD captured a pair of crowns in 2008 and 2010. In addition, Point Loma Nazarene emerged victorious in 2009, while SMU grabbed the top spot in 2011, followed by Washington in 2012.
Following the Lamkin San Diego Classic, the Aztecs will have nearly two weeks off before heading north for the Oregon Duck Invitational, March 23-24, in Creswell, Ore.