May 3, 2016
SDSU Tournament Notes | Live Results
SAN DIEGO - The 21st-ranked San Diego State women's golf team travels to the Bay Area this week to compete in the NCAA Stanford Regional, May 5-7, in Stanford, Calif. The Aztecs, who are making their sixth regional appearance in the last seven years and 13th overall, will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA national championship series, scheduled for May 20-25 in Eugene, Ore.
SDSU garnered the sixth seed out of 18 teams in the Stanford Regional, earning one of 43 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament after finishing second at the Mountain West Championship on April 20. A total of 72 NCAA Division I schools received invitations to play in one of four regionals that will be held concurrently this week in Bryan, Texas, (Texas A&M), Baton Rouge, La. (LSU), Shoal Creek, Ala. (Alabama) and Stanford, Calif. (Stanford).
Joining the Aztecs this week will be 17 other teams, including 12 opponents ranked in the top 50, along with six individual competitors (96 golfers overall). The top six squads and the three highest finishing individuals not on an advancing team will move on to nationals from each of the four regionals.
Teams will complete 18 holes (54 total) of stroke play each of the three days following a practice round on Wednesday, May 4. SDSU will tee off with Virginia and UNLV for Thursday's opening round, which is set to get underway at 7:30 a.m. PT on hole No. 1, while pairings for Friday and Saturday will be based on team scores.
Live hole-by-hole results courtesy of Golfstat will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com.
Aztec Lineup For This Week
Fifth-year San Diego State head coach Leslie Spalding will accompany five players to "The Farm" this week, featuring 2016 Mountain West Women's Golfer of the Year Emma Henrikson (Malmö, Sweden) and second-team all-conference honoree Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah), along with Mila Chaves (Asunción, Paraguay), Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.) and Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.).
Henrikson will be making her fourth consecutive appearance in regional competition, while Blair finds herself in the thick of the fight for the third straight season. In addition, Chaves and Lacey will be competing in the regional tournament for the second year in a row, joining Krause, a first-time participant.
Henrikson, an All-America candidate who owns a team-best 71.63 stroke average for the season, is ranked 11th nationally according to Golfstat and occupies the 17th spot in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
Henrikson and Blair are the lone veterans from the Aztecs' last visit to Stanford Golf Course in February 2014, when the Scarlet and Black finished seventh out of 14 squads at the Peg Barnard Invitational. Henrikson tied for 17th individually with a 7-over 149 at the 36-hole tournament, while Blair finished one shot behind in the 21st position at 8-over 150.
SDSU At NCAA Regionals
The Aztecs are making their sixth trip to NCAA regionals in the last seven years and ninth overall as a team. SDSU earned team bids in 1999 (18th), 2001 (15th), 2004 (15th), 2010 (t-15th), 2011 (17th), 2012 (t-20th), 2014 (t-21st) and 2015 (11th). The program has also been represented by individual golfers in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2013.
This week marks the sixth time the Aztecs are participating in a western-based regional as a team, following the 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 and 2015 squads. SDSU competed at Stanford Golf Course in regional play on one previous occasion in 2004, finishing 15th out of 21 schools.
The Scarlet and Black also participated in the East Regional two times in 2001 and 2012 to go with an appearance at the Central Regional in 2010. Including this season, the program will have played in 12 different cities and 10 different states in its NCAA regional history.
Heather MacRae boasts SDSU's best individual finish when she tied for 11th place at Stanford in 2004; Malin Enarsson is second with her 12th-place performance in 2010, while Hiroko Fukushima sits in third with an 18th-place effort in 1999. In addition, Paige Spiranac tied for the 19th spot in 2013, while Mila Chaves landed in the 20th position a year ago.
The Competition
The Aztecs are one of 13 teams in the Stanford Regional ranked among the top 50 in the latest Golfstat rankings released April 26. Of those squads, six reside in the top 25, including No. 2 USC, followed by Arkansas (7), Stanford (12), Virginia (15), UNLV (18) and SDSU (22).
The Aztecs own an 11-9 record in head-to-head results against seven of their regional foes during the 2015-16 campaign, including unblemished marks vs. San José State (3-0) and Idaho (1-0). SDSU has also maintained the upper hand this year against Pepperdine (4-1) and has topped Colorado (1-1), Ohio State (1-2) and Stanford (1-2) once each.
A Look At The Course
The host site of the 2016 NCAA Stanford Regional is the par-71, 6,269-yard Stanford Golf Course, located in the rolling hills above Stanford University. Designed in 1930 by renowned architects William Bell and George C. Thomas, the course is consistently rated as one of the finest in the nation. In 2009, Stanford Golf Course was selected as the third-best collegiate track in the U.S. following a Golf Channel survey of 160 coaches and was ranked fifth-best in the country according to Golfweek in 2010.
Throughout the years, Stanford Golf Course has played host to numerous amateur and professional events, including U.S. Open qualifying, U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying, NCAA Women's Championships, NCAA Regionals, as well as a former Senior PGA Tour event, The Gathering at The Farm.
The Aztecs last played at Stanford in February 2014, where it placed seventh out of 14 teams at the 36-hole Peg Barnard Invitational. In addition, SDSU competed in the Stanford Intercollegiate in October 2011, finishing 12th out of 15 squads in head coach Leslie Spalding's first season on Montezuma Mesa.