Feb. 27, 2016
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The San Diego State women's golf team continues its spring schedule next week when it travels to the Central Coast for the seventh annual Bruin Wave Invitational, Feb. 29-March 1, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The first two rounds of the 54-hole tournament will begin on Monday with an 8 a.m. PT shotgun start at the par-72, 6,250-yard San Luis Obispo Country Club, while the final 18 holes are slated for completion on Tuesday with tee times off holes 1 and 10 as early as 7:30 a.m. A live scoring link for all three rounds will be available on GoAztecs.com courtesy of Golfstat.
The No. 20 Aztecs are among 10 schools in the elite 16-team field ranked in the Golfstat top 75 this week. Along with tournament co-hosts UCLA (6) and Pepperdine (55), San Diego State will lock horns with Washington (9), Stanford (11), Oklahoma State (13), California (14), Arizona State (15), Denver (64) and Washington State (68). In addition, the Aztecs will be afforded an early look at Mountain West rival New Mexico (31), while Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine round out the list of competing squads.
Fifth-year head coach Leslie Spalding will employ the lineup of senior Emma Henrikson (Malmö, Sweden), junior Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah), sophomore Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.), fellow classmate Mila Chaves (Asunción, Paraguay) and freshman Hana Furuichi (San Diego, Calif.), who will be making her first varsity start in a Scarlet and Black uniform.
Henrikson, who is ranked sixth nationally in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, is coming off her third collegiate victory last week after capturing co-medalist honors with a combined 5-under 211 at the Westbrook Spring Invitational in Peoria, Ariz. The native Swede leads the team with a 70.73 stroke average and has finished no worse than 12th place in five tournaments so far this year. She also emerged triumphant at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Colorado last fall, following a third-place tie at the University of New Mexico's Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational.
This season marks the first time the Bruin Wave Invitational will be conducted in San Luis Obispo following a four-year run from 2012-15 at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana. The Aztecs boasted the individual winner in 2012 when Christine Wong claimed medalist honors with a collective 3-over 219. In 2010 and 2011, the tournament was held at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Santa Clarita.
Last season, Blair was SDSU's top finisher at the event after tying for second with a combined 5-over 221, while Henrikson landed in a tie for 13th at 9-over 225, followed by Chaves (t-17) and Lacey (t-72). As a team, the Aztecs took fourth at 45-over 909, with the first round featuring a 35-minute weather delay.
Following the Bruin Wave Invitational, the Aztecs will have three weeks off before playing host to the SDSU March Mayhem match-play tournament, March 21-23, at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.