Oct. 27, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The San Diego State women's golf team will send four individuals north to Orange County next week to compete in the UC Irvine Invitational, Oct. 30-31, in Santa Ana, California.
In a recently added tournament to the Aztecs' fall schedule, juniors Kitty Tam (Hong Kong, China) and Daniela Anastasi (La Jolla, Calif.) will join sophomore Fernanda Escauriza (Asuncion, Paraguay) and freshman Cameron Lee (Tustin, Calif.) on the par-72, 6,129-yard Santa Ana Country Club.
The first 36 holes of the event will be contested on Monday, followed by final-round action on Tuesday. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
In addition to SDSU, the nine-team field features 'A' and 'B' squads from UC Irvine and Long Beach State, along with full rosters from Cal State Fullerton, Colorado State, Idaho, Northern Illinois, Pepperdine, San Francisco and UC Riverside, while UCLA has entered three unattached competitors as well.
Escauriza, the defending Mountain West individual champion has appeared in two events this season, posting a 76.50 scoring average. The Paraguayan national tied for 48th at the Golfweek Conference Challenge last month in Wolcott, Colorado, where she shot a 10-over 226, before landing in the 67th spot at Northwestern's Windy City Collegiate Classic with a 233.
Anastasi also saw action at the season-opening Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she competed as an individual, tying for 74th at 13-over 229. Conversely, Lee and Tam will be making their initial appearances of the 2017-18 campaign.
Next week's tournament will be a homecoming of sorts for Lee, who graduated from Beckman High School in nearby Irvine, California, before signing with the Aztecs last fall. Lee was voted her team's most valuable player all four years as a prep and garnered first-team all-Orange County accolades on three occasions. She capped off her senior campaign by earning Pacific Coast League Player of the Year honors after leading the Patriots to their fourth consecutive conference championship.
The UC Irvine Invitational was last conducted in the spring of 2015 when the Aztecs finished eighth out of 13 squads with a 27-over 891. The Anteaters' Kaley In and Tatiana Wijaya of Pepperdine are the top holdovers from that tournament, with each tying for 42nd at 12-over 228.
San Diego State wrapped up its fall competition as a team earlier this month at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, where it tied for ninth out of 15 schools. Individually, freshman Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), who leads the Aztecs with a 74.78 scoring average in nine rounds this year, tied for sixth with a 2-over 218.
Following next week's event, SDSU will take a break before resuming its schedule next spring for the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Feb. 11-12, 2018, in Palos Verdes Estates, California.