April 2, 2015
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's golf team continues its spring schedule this week when it travels to the desert for ASU Thunderbird Invitational, April 3-4, in Tempe, Arizona. The 43rd annual tournament gets underway Friday with the first two rounds at the par-70, 6,971-yard Karsten Golf Course, while the final 18 holes are pegged for a Saturday completion.
The Aztecs are one of nine squads in the 14-school field ranked among the Golfstat top 60 this week. Along with third-ranked and tournament host Arizona State, No. 31 San Diego State will battle Baylor (14), Iowa (40), Iowa State (48), UC Davis (57), San Diego (58), Oregon State (59) and Washington State (60). In addition, the Aztecs will lock horns with fellow Mountain West members Nevada and Wyoming, while Arizona, Minnesota and Pepperdine round out the list competing teams.
For the second straight week and third time this spring, SDSU head coach Ryan Donovan will utilize the starting lineup of Xander Schauffele (San Diego, Calif.), Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii), Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.) and Brian Song (Beverly Hills, Calif.). The aforementioned group propelled the Aztecs to third-place team finishes at last week's Oregon Duck Invitational as well as The Prestige at PGA West in February. In addition, James Holley (Chatsworth, Calif.) and Michael Koeneke (San Diego, Calif.) will make the trip east as individual competitors.
Schauffele, who enters the tournament at No. 16 in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, leads the Aztecs with a 70.81 stroke average, which ranks second in the MW. The SDSU senior has logged four top-five finishes in five starts this spring, highlighted by an individual title at the Barona Collegiate Cup in early February. For his efforts, Schauffele received three straight conference golfer-of-the-week awards.
Ree, meanwhile, has entrenched himself as the Aztecs' No. 2 starter after notching four top-20 performances this spring, including a 10th-place showing at the Duck Invite. The junior transfer, who joined the Scarlet and Black in January, owns a 72.00 scoring average, which ranks fifth in the MW.
The Aztecs will be making their 11th appearance at the Thunderbird Invite in the last 13 years. During that stretch, SDSU has recorded five top-five placements, including a trio of runner-up performances in 2009, 2011 and 2012. Schauffele is the lone Aztec starter with collegiate experience at Karsten. In SDSU's last visit to the course in 2013, he was the team's top finisher, landing in the eighth spot on the individual leaderboard with a combined 3-under 210.
The ASU Thunderbird Invitational was launched in 1973 and has been contested on an annual basis since then. Former SDSU All-American J.J. Spaun captured back-to-back individual titles in 2010 and 2011, joining Phil Mickelson (1991-92) as the only players to garner multiple medalist honors in the tournament. The Aztecs have also had two individual winners in Curt Worley (1978) and Howard Johnson (1985).
Other previous Thunderbird Invitational champions of note include Scott Simpson (1975), Corey Pavin (1979), Bob Clampett (1980), Steve Jones (1981) David Sutherland (1987) and Paul Casey (2000).
Following this weekend's event, San Diego State will venture north to the Santa Cruz area for its final tournament of the regular season when it competes in the Western Intercollegiate, April 11-12, at scenic Pasatiempo Golf Course.