May 4, 2015
SAN DIEGO -The San Diego State men's golf team will journey to the Nutmeg State for the 2015 NCAA Regional Championships, May 14-16, at The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn., as announced Monday by the NCAA selection committee. The 33rd-ranked Aztecs received a No. 6 seed for their 17th consecutive NCAA regional appearance and 20th overall since the regional format was adopted in 1989.
Under the direction of 12th-year head coach Ryan Donovan, SDSU earned one of 30 automatic bids after winning the Mountain West Championship on May 3 for its third conference title in the last five years. A total of 81 Division I schools overall received invitations to compete in one of six regional tournaments that will be also be played concurrently in Bremerton, Wash. (Washington), Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (USD), Lubbock, Texas (Texas Tech), Noblesville, Ind. (Ball State) and Chapel Hill, N.C. (North Carolina).
Yale University will serve as host to the New Haven Regional, which features 13 squads and five individuals in addition to the Aztecs. Teams will play 18 holes (54 total) on each of the three days on the historic par-70, 6,803-yard course layout, following a practice round on Wednesday, May 13. A live hole-by-hole scoring link will be available for all three rounds courtesy of Golfstat on GoAztecs.com.
SDSU was one of just three Mountain West schools to earn a regional berth in 2015, joining New Mexico (No. 4 seed - San Diego Regional) and UNLV (No. 6 seed - Noblesville Regional). In addition, the league will be represented by one individual, Cody Blick of San José State, who will compete in the San Diego Regional.
The Aztecs are enjoying another successful season, posting eight top-five finishes in 12 tournaments, including team titles at the Barona Collegiate Cup and the aforementioned Mountain West Championship. Individually, SDSU is led by Xander Schauffele, who finished second at the conference tournament for his seventh top-five placement of the year. The Aztec senior took home medalist honors at Barona en route earning three straight MW Men's Golfer of the Week awards.
Schauffele, who occupies the 22nd spot in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, owns a team-best 70.61 stroke average so far this season, followed by Ryann Ree (72.00), who tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard at the MW Championship. A junior transfer from Oregon, Ree has logged six top-20 placements this spring after joining the squad in mid-January.
The Aztecs have qualified for nationals 27 times in school history, including six occasions (1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012) since the regional format made its debut. SDSU claimed its first-ever NCAA regional crown in 2011, after finishing first by seven strokes as the No. 2 seed in Tucson, Ariz., followed by a runner-up performance at Stanford, Calif., in 2012. The Scarlet and Black came up short in its quest for a third straight trip to the NCAA championship round in 2013 after falling to Ball State in a playoff at Pullman, Wash., before finishing eighth in Columbia, Mo., last season.
NCAA New Haven RegionalThe Course at Yale (Par 70, 6,803 yards)New Haven, Conn.May 14-16Host: Yale
Teams seeded in the following order(latest Golfstat/Golfweek-Sagarin Ratings):1. Vanderbilt (5/4)2. LSU^ (7/8)3. South Florida^ (16/13)4. Oklahoma State (20/21)5. Arkansas (29/27)6. San Diego State^ (33/34)7. Iowa (41/42)8. NC State (45/46)9. Ohio State (53/51)10. Troy (57/60)11. North Texas^ (69/63)12. College of Charleston^ (88/83)13. Robert Morris^ (206/206)14. St. Peter's^ (242/249)^ = earned conference's NCAA automatic bid
Individuals1. Brandon Matthews, Temple (37/87)2. Dylan Crowley, St. John's (NR/510)3. George Williams, LIU-Brooklyn (NR/768)4. Kevin Kramarski, Iona (NR/1348)5. Quinn Prchal, Princeton (NR/281)
SDSU At Regionals (*Regional play began in 1989)Year Finish - Site Score1990 13th - Las Cruces, N.M. 8711995 18th - Albuquerque, N.M. 9121997 18th - Santee, Calif. 9291999 5th - Tucson, Ariz. 8752000 18th - Fresno, Calif. 8832001 12th - Corvallis, Ore. 8872002^ t-10th - Albuquerque, N.M. 8822003 t-9th - Auburn, Wash. 8852004 13th - Sunriver, Ore. 8922005 7th - Stanford, Calif. 8602006 t-17th - Tucson, Ariz. 8602007 24th - Tempe, Ariz. 8842008+ t-9th - Bremerton, Wash. 8882009 7th - Daly City, Calif. 8572010 t-8th - Santee, Calif. 8992011 1st - Tucson, Ariz. 8332012 2nd - Stanford, Calif. 8212013~ t-5th - Pullman, Wash. 8562014 8th - Columbia, Mo. 866
^SDSU eliminated by Texas Tech in sudden-death playoff+SDSU and Texas advanced over Pepperdine in three-team sudden-death playoff.~SDSU eliminated by Ball State in sudden-death playoff