April 5, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" In its final tune-up before the Mountain West Championship, the 28th-ranked San Diego State women's golf team will travel to the desert this weekend for the PING/ASU Invitational, April 7-9, in Tempe, Ariz.
The three-day 54-hole tournament, which will be contested on the par-72, 6,223-yard ASU Karsten Golf Course, is scheduled to get underway with tee times at 8 a.m. PDT for the first two rounds on Friday and Saturday, while the final round set to begin Sunday at 7:30 a.m. PDT. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
Along with host and No. 4 Arizona State, SDSU will face 11 schools ranked among the Golfstat top 75 this week, including Arizona (17), Baylor (20), SMU (38), UNLV (46), Kansas State (48), Washington (52), Kentucky (53), Missouri (56), LSU (64) and Oregon State (65), while New Mexico and Northern Arizona round out the list of competing squads.
Sixth-year SDSU head coach Leslie Spalding accompany six golfers to the Valley of the Sun, including the starting lineup of Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah), Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.), Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.), Natalie Vivaldi (Oceanside, Calif.), and Fernanda Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay), while sophomore Kitty Tam (Hong Kong, China) is set to compete as an individual.
The Aztecs have been idle since March 21 after posting an eighth-place finish at their own SDSU March Mayhem match-play event at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. San Diego State, which entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed, opened with a 3-2 triumph over Iowa on the first day of competition, but was unable to advance in the championship bracket after experiencing a heartbreaking 3-2 upset at the hands of 12th-seeded Fresno State in round two. Relegated to the fifth-place bracket, the Aztecs came up short by an identical 3-2 count in their two remaining matches, falling to Old Dominion and Northwestern, respectively. Individually, SDSU was led by Lacey and Vivaldi, who each posted a 3-1 record for the week.
Blair has been SDSU's top golfer in four of the team's six medal-play events this year, including a fourth-place tie last month at the Meadow Club Intercollegiate, where she shot a 1-under 215 to help the Scarlet and Black to its second team title of the season. The Aztec senior led the team with 12 birdies for the tournament for her third top-five placement of the season. In addition, Lacey finished three shots in back of Blair in a tie for ninth at 2-over 218, while Vivaldi landed in the 12th position with a 4-over 220 followed by Escauriza (T-15th, +6) and Krause (T-27th, +9).
For the season, Blair leads the Scarlet and Black with a 72.37 scoring average through seven stroke-play events, including a team-high eight rounds below par. The three-time all-conference performer established the school record for lowest 18-hole score last September after shooting an 8-under 64 during the second round of the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, where finished a solo second with a program-best 13-under 203.
Lacey, meanwhile, ranks second on the squad with a 73.50 stroke average. The Torrey Pines High alumna was SDSU's top golfer in the fall finale at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown where she logged a 4-under-par 140 in a tournament that was shortened to 36 holes due to a lightning threat from passing thunderstorms. Coupled with her earlier second-place showing at the Stanford Intercollegiate, Lacey garnered Mountain West Women's Golfer of the Month accolades for October.
SDSU's fall slate was also highlighted by its second consecutive team title at the Golfweek Conference Challenge near Vail, Colo., holding off a final-round rally by host Denver with a combined nine birdies and one eagle after the turn. Individually, four of five Aztec starters finished among the top 15, including Vivaldi, who tied for fifth after carding a 2-under 214.
Blair occupies the 43rd spot in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, while Lacey is listed at No. 85. A quick glance at the most recent Golfweek rankings finds Blair in the 53rd position, while Lacey checks in at No. 67.
The Aztecs will be making their first appearance in the PING/ASU Invitational for the first time since 2015 when they tied for 12th with Alabama at 20-over 884. Lacey and Blair are the sole returning starters from that tournament. Lacey tied for 45th on the individual leaderboard with an 8-over 224, while Blair finished one stroke behind in a tie for 52nd.
UCLA captured the team title at the PING/ASU Invitational in 2016; however, the Bruins are not scheduled to appear at this year's event, leaving the host Sun Devils, who finished second, as the top returning squad. ASU also boasts the top returning individual from last's season's installment in Linnea Strom, who finished a solo third at 5-under 211, while another Sun Devil player, Sophia Zeeb (T-9th, +2) is back in the mix, along with Arizona's Krystal Quihuis (T-9th, +2).
Following this weekend's tournament, SDSU will have eight days to prepare for the 2017 Mountain West Championship, scheduled for April 17-19, at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.