Oct. 7, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" After a two-week hiatus, the San Diego State men's golf team returns to the fairways in earnest next week when it ventures north to the Bay Area for the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Oct. 9-10, at the exclusive Meadow Club in Fairfax, California.
The first 36 holes of the two-day event will be contested on Monday following an 8:15 a.m. PT shotgun start, while Tuesday's final round is slated to begin with tee times off holes 1 and 10 as early as 7:40 a.m. PT on the par-71, 6,734-yard course layout. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
In addition to host California, SDSU square off against Mountain West rivals Fresno State, Nevada and San José State, along with three other northern California schools in Saint Mary's, San Francisco and Santa Clara, while Harvard, Hawai'i, Minnesota, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego and Washington round out the 15-team field.
For the third consecutive tournament Aztec head coach will employ the starting lineup of senior PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii), freshman Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhom Phanom, Thailand), senior Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.), sophomore Trevor Norby (Carlsbad, Calif.) and fellow classmate Eric Ghim (Glendale, Ariz.). In addition, senior Pablo Matesanz (Irun, Spain) will make the trek north to Marin County as an unattached competitor.
The Aztecs are coming off a sixth-place in their last outing at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Samiere finished alone in fourth place at 2-under 214 on the individual leaderboard for his seventh career top-10 placement.
Through six rounds, Samiere leads the Scarlet and Black with a 71.67 scoring average, while Anupansuebsai (73.33) and Abercrombie (73.67) rank second and third, respectively.
With the exception of a temporary stop at the par-72, 7,103-yard Sonoma Golf Club in 2013, the Alister MacKenzie Invitational has been contested at the exclusive Meadow Club 13 times in the tournament's 14-year history.
SDSU, which is making its 10th overall appearance at the event, captured the team title in 2007 with a combined 24-under 828 after vaulting over six schools during a furious final-round rally to finish four strokes in front of second-place Washington. The Scarlet and Black also boasted the individual winner in 2010, as Alex Kang fired a 16-under 197 to claim a one-stroke victory over teammate Todd Baek and Ben An of California.
The Aztecs tied for sixth with Washington at the 2016 edition of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational after firing a collective 22-under 830, while Abercrombie (T-23rd, -4) and Samiere (T-27th) are SDSU's top returners from a year ago. Samiere matched his career best in the opening round with a card of 64, which is tied for fourth on the school's all-time charts for lowest 18-hole score.
Arizona State (-31) ended California's streak of seven straight tournament crowns last season, but will not participate in next week's event, leaving runner-up Oregon State (-25) as the top returning squad, while Saint Mary's (-24) tied for third. The Golden Bears' Collin Morikawa is the highest placing individual from a year ago after finishing alone in third with a 14-under 199, while the Beavers' Kyosuke Hara, the Gaels' Connor Blick and Pepperdine's Roy Cootes are also back in the mix after each tied for sixth at 10-under 203.
Following the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, San Diego State will take another two-week break from competition before returning to action for the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational, Oct. 29-31, in Princeville, Hawaii.