March 4, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The 22nd-ranked San Diego State men's golf team will participate in one of its most competitive tournaments of the season next week when it travels to Sin City for the Southern Highlands Collegiate, March 6-8, in Las Vegas, Nev.
The three-day, 54-hole event will be contested on the vast par-72, 7,374-yard Southern Highlands Golf Club, beginning with tee times off holes No. 1 and No. 10 at 9 a.m. PT for each round. A live scoring link will be available on GoAztecs.com courtesy of Golfstat.
Along with San Diego State, the heavily stacked field features 10 squads ranked among the Golfstat top 25, including No. 2 Florida, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Illinois, No. 7 USC, No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 14 Oklahoma State, No. 19 and tournament host UNLV and No. 25 Arizona State. The Aztecs will also lock horns with No. 33 Pepperdine and another Mountain West rival in No. 49 New Mexico, while No. 56 TCU, No. 69 California and No. 79 SMU round out the list of competing squads.
SDSU head coach Ryan Donovan has shuffled his lineup for the Silver State excursion, which includes the regular cast of senior Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.), junior PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii) and fellow classmate Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.), while senior Gunn Yang (Pyeongchang, South Korea) is set to make his spring debut after nursing a sore back. However, freshman Eric Ghim (Glendale, Ariz.) was a late scratch due to injury and will be replaced by sophomore Otto Vanhatalo (Espoo, Finland), who will be making his first varsity start for the Scarlet and Black.
The Aztecs are coming off an eighth-place tie at the Southwestern Invitational in Westlake Village, Calif., where they posted a combined 19-over 883. SDSU shaved 13 strokes off its collective first-round total, climbing three places into a tie for seventh after posting an even-par 288 in round two. However, the Aztecs were unable to maintain the upward climb, shooting a 294 in the final round to slip into the eighth position along with UC Davis.
Despite carding a final-round 77, Ghim was SDSU's No. 1 golfer last week, tying for 17th at 2-over 218 in his second-ever collegiate start and first of the spring. The Arizona native led the team with 13 birdies overall, including eight in the second round alone. Mendoza was also plagued by a 77 in the final round, slipping seven spots into a tie for 28th at 6-over 222 to finish one shot ahead of Samiere, who closed with a 70 to vault 23 places into a tie for 34th at 223.
The Aztecs find themselves at No. 22 in the latest Golfstat rankings, while the Scarlet and Black is listed 23rd in the Golfweek/Sagarin index. Despite missing the first two tournaments of the spring, Yang is currently 70th in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, while Mendoza checks in No. 73. A quick look at the most recent Golfweek individual rankings finds Yang at No. 50, while Mendoza is 57th, followed by Samiere at No. 85.
SDSU has captured two event titles this season, winning the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate last September, before successfully defending its crown a month later at the Saint Mary's Invitational. The Aztecs also landed in the runner-up spot at the season-opening Gopher Invitational to go along with a pair of sixth-place finishes at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational last October and The Prestige at PGA WEST in February.
San Diego State has not competed in Las Vegas since October 2006 when it claimed both the individual and team titles at the District 7 Shootout. The Aztecs shot a combined 30-under 852 on Angel Park Golf Club's Mountain Course, topping runner-up Boise State by 14 strokes. SDSU also boasted four top-10 individual finishes, including medalist Aaron Goldberg, who carded a then-school record 201 in regulation before defeating Boise State's Troy Merritt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff. Last season, the Aztecs had this spot in their spring tournament calendar open.
USC took home the team crown at the Southern Highlands Collegiate last year, posting a combined 5-over 869 to edge second-place Florida (+9) by four strokes, while Oklahoma (+15), Arizona State (+18) and Texas (+18) rounded out the top five. Florida's Sam Horsfield collected medalist honors after carding a 7-under 209, while USC's Sean Crocker landed in the runner-up position at 3-under 213, followed by Oklahoma's Max McGreevy, who tied for third a 2-under 214, along with Oregon's Sulman Raza.
Horsfield, Crocker and McGreevy are all returning for another run in the Southern Highlands Collegiate, while UNLV's Shintaro Ban (T-5th), USC's Rico Hoey (T-8th), Texas Tech's Wes Artac (T-8th) and Ivan Ramirez (T-8th) are back in the mix as well.
Following the Southern Highlands Collegiate, the Aztecs will conduct their lone home tournament of the season at the Lamkin San Diego Classic, March 13-14, at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif.