Sept. 23, 2015
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team looks to build on its early season success this weekend when it heads east for the 61st annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, Sept. 25-26, in Albuquerque, N.M.
The two-day 54-hole tournament commences Friday with the first two rounds on the par-72, 7,556-yard UNM Championship Course, starting at 8 a.m. MT, with the final 18 holes scheduled to be completed on Saturday. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
Along with host New Mexico, the 29th-ranked Aztecs will battle seven squads ranked among the top 100 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index, including Louisiana Tech (21), TCU (49), Texas Tech (50), Colorado (63), Bowling Green (66), UNLV (67) and Colorado State (76). SDSU will also get an early look at two additional Mountain West rivals in Nevada and Wyoming, while Arizona, Denver, New Mexico State, UTEP and San Diego round out the 16-team field.
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan will utilize the same lineup from the season-opening Saint Mary's Invitational, including sophomore Gunn Yang (Pyeongchang, South Korea, seniors Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy) and Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), junior Brian Song (Beverly Hills, Calif.) and sophomore Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.). In addition, fellow classmates PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii) and Pablo Matesanz (Irun, Spain) will make their 2015-16 debut as an unattached competitors.
All five starters finished in the top 25 at the Saint Mary's Invite in Pebble Beach last week, helping SDSU capture the team title on the famed Poppy Hills Golf Course. Song was the Aztecs' highest finisher out of 84 players, tying for the fourth spot with a 1-under 212, while Michelini and Ree tied for ninth at 2-over 215, followed by Abercrombie (T-17th) and Yang (T-23rd).
This weekend's event marks the eighth time in the last 11 years and 13th occasion overall that SDSU has competed in the Tucker Intercollegiate. After logging a pair of second-place performances in 2007 and 2009, the Aztecs walked away with the crown in 2010, rallying from a seven-stroke deficit during the final round to edge North Texas by one stroke. Last season, SDSU placed third out of 15 teams with a combined 9-over 873, while New Mexico (-15) and Texas Tech (E) grabbed the top two spots, respectively.
Five of the top-six individual finishers from a year ago have completed their eligibility, including the Lobos' three-time champion Gavin Green, which leaves TCU senior Paul Barjon as the tournament's top returner. Barjon tied for the fifth position in 2014 with 2-under 214, one stroke in back of former Aztec All-American Xander Schauffele, who took fourth. Michelini, who will be making his third consecutive start on the UNM Championship Course, is SDSU's highest finisher from last season's event when he tied for 25th at 6-over 222.
The Tucker Intercollegiate, which was named in honor of former University of New Mexico groundskeeper William H. Tucker, is the second-oldest men's college tournament in the country behind only the New England Intercollegiate. Previous individual competitors include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tommy Armour III, Tim Herron, Duffy Waldorf, Notah Begay and Matt Kuchar.
Following the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, San Diego State will have a two-week break from competition before returning to the course for the University of California's Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Oct.12-13, at the historic Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.