Sept. 10, 2016
Tournament Notes | Live Results
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State women's golf team tees off for the first time this season when it competes in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, Sept. 12-13, in Albuquerque, N.M.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament gets underway Monday with the first two rounds, while the final 18 holes are slated for a Tuesday completion on the par-72, 6,317-yard UNM Championship Course. A live scoring link for all three rounds will be available courtesy of BirdieFire on GoAztecs.com.
In addition to host New Mexico, the Aztecs will square off against nine schools ranked in the Golfweek preseason top 30, including Arizona State (2), Northwestern (8), Oklahoma State (9), Arizona (12), California (14), Iowa State (22), UNLV (24), Colorado (25) and Pepperdine (29), while Baylor, Denver, Oklahoma, UC Davis and Washington State round out the 16-team field.
Senior Sirene Blair sits atop head coach Leslie Spalding's starting ladder to open the year, followed by junior Haleigh Krause, sophomore Kitty Tam, senior Natalie Vivaldi and sophomore Daniela Anastasi. SDSU will be without the services of junior Mila Chaves, who will compete at the World Amateur Team Championships next week in Mexico, while fellow classmate Georgia Lacey will also miss the trip to the Duke City to recover from an injury.
The Aztecs' top returner, Blair garnered all-Mountain West accolades for the third year in a row last season after notching a 74.11 scoring average, which ranked 10th in the conference. The South Jordan, Utah, native logged three top-five finishes, highlighted by a fifth-place tie at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown last October, where she established a school record for lowest 54-hole score with a combined 11-under-par 205.
In addition, Krause made eight starts in nine stroke-play events for the Scarlet and Black last season, posting a 75.46 scoring average and four rounds below par. The Eugene, Ore., product collected medalist honors as an unattached golfer at the CSU San Marcos Cougar Invitational last March and also tied for eighth at the Golfweek Conference Challenge during the 2015 fall slate to help SDSU capture the team title.
Vivaldi and Anastasi, meanwhile, will don the Aztec logo for the first time next week after beginning their collegiate careers at Colorado and UC Davis, respectively, joining Tam, who made three appearances for SDSU as a freshman last year.
During her third and final season at CU in 2015-16, Vivaldi averaged 76.39 strokes in 28 rounds, shooting a season-best 70 during the opening round of the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, highlighted by a team-high five birdies. On the other hand, Anastasi earned a starting assignment eight times in her lone season at UCD, posting a 78.00 scoring average.
This year marks the 38th edition of the Branch/McGuire, which became a separate tournament in 1979, after the New Mexico women's squad co-hosted the William H. Tucker Invitational with the Lobo men's team from 1956-78. With the exception of the 2007-08 campaign when the event was on hiatus, SDSU has appeared in each of the last 13 Branch/McGuire Invites, highlighted by fifth-place finishes in 2011 and 2014. The UNM Championship Course will serve as one of four host sites for NCAA regional competition next May.
The Aztecs placed ninth out of 18 teams at the Branch/McGuire Invitational last season, with Blair returning as the team's top individual from the tournament after tying for 23rd with an even-par 219. Krause (T-54th) and Tam (T-93rd) also cracked the starting lineup for SDSU at the event, while Anastasi (T-54th) competed for UC Davis, shooting a 1-under 72 during the final round.
Following the Branch/McGuire Invitational, San Diego State will venture back to the Mountain time zone looking to defend its team title from a year at the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Sept. 26-28, in Wolcott, Colo.