Sept. 24, 2016
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's golf team continues its fall schedule early next week when it competes in the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Sept. 26-28, in Wolcott, Colo. The defending champion Aztecs will play 18 holes on each of the tournament's three days on the par-72, 6,261-yard Tom Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available throughout the 54-hole event.
A total of 18 different Division I conferences will be represented by one of their member institutions at the eighth annual event hosted by Golfweek. In pursuit of another title, SDSU will battle the likes of Campbell, Central Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Denver, Idaho, Iowa, James Madison, Missouri State, New Mexico State, Old Dominion, Pepperdine, South Florida, TCU, Tennessee, Toledo, UC Davis and Washington State.
Sixth-year Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding will accompany five players to the Rockies, including seniors Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah) and Natalie Vivaldi (Oceanside, Calif.), along with juniors Mila Chaves (Asuncion, Paraguay), Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.) and Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.).
Blair was SDSU's top golfer at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational earlier this month, when she fired a school-record 13-under-par 203 to finish alone in second place. The three-time all-Mountain West performer also set a program standard for 18 holes with a 64 during the second round to help secure the 11th top-five placement of her career.
Playing in a stacked field that featured nine schools ranked in the Golfweek preseason top 30, San Diego State placed 10th out of 16 squads in the team's season opener in New Mexico after shooting an 8-over 872. In addition to Blair, the Aztecs received a top-20 finish from Vivaldi, who tied for 17th at 1-under 215, highlighted by a final-round 70.
Four of the Aztecs' five starters in this week's lineup contributed to last year's winning effort at the Golfweek Conference Challenge with individual top-20 placements. Blair landed in the fourth spot with a 2-over 218, while Krause tied for eighth at 4-over 220, followed closely by Chaves (T-14th, 220 (+4)) and Krause (T-17th, 223 (+7)). Not to be outdone, Emma Henrikson, who completed her eligibilty last spring after becoming the first-ever Aztec women's golf All-American, captured medalist honors with a 10-under-par 206.
Chaves and Lacey will both be making their season debut at this week's tournament for the Scarlet and Black after each missed the Branch/McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Chaves skipped the event to compete at the World Amateur Team Championships in Mexico, while Lacey was held out to recover from an injury.
Located near the renowned Vail Ski Area, the Tom Fazio Course features open sage covered hills and dense aspen forest around a highland lake. Fazio's design team has made a meticulous effort to maintain the site's indigenous vegetation by relocating more than 23,000 native plants into nurseries for re-planting throughout the course.
Kelly McGovern of TCU is the top returning individual from last season's Golfweek Conference Challenge after tying for second with a 1-under 215. In addition to the aforementioned SDSU quartet of Blair, Krause, Chaves and Lacey, Annelie Sjoholm of Campbell, who tied for fifth in 2015 at 3-over 219, is back in mix as well, along with another TCU golfer Brooke Graebe (T-12) and Tatiana Ravnjak of Pepperdine (T-14). The Waves have captured the team title four times in the tournament's seven-year history, including three straight crowns from 2012-14.
Following the Golfweek Conference Challenge, San Diego State will return to the fairways for the prestigious Stanford Invitational hosted by Condoleezza Rice, Oct. 14-16, in Stanford, Calif.