March 10, 2018
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" After a near two-week layoff, the San Diego State men's golf team resumes its spring schedule early next week when it participates in the 11th annual Lamkin San Diego Classic, March 12-13, in Chula Vista, Calif. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, co-hosted by the Aztecs and the University of San Diego, will be conducted at the par-72, 7,033-yard San Diego Country Club.
The first two rounds are scheduled to commence on Monday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. PDT, while the final 18 holes are slated to begin on Tuesday with tee times as early as 8 a.m. Admission is free to the public, and a live scoring link will be available courtesy of Golfstat on GoAztecs.com.
Along with No. 48 SDSU, the highly competitive field features nine additional squads ranked among the Golfstat top 50, including No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Texas Tech, 13 Texas, No. 27 North Carolina, No. 30 Louisville, No. 34 Colorado State, No. 40 Arizona, No. 43 Saint Mary's and No. 47 Colorado. The Aztecs will also battle another Mountain West adversary in New Mexico, while USD, Connecticut, Loyola Marymount, Mississippi and Middle Tennessee State round out the list of participating schools.
SDSU will have nine players participating in next week's tournament, featuring the starting lineup of seniors Samiere and Blake Abercrombie, sophomore Trevor Norby, along with freshmen Puwit Anupansuebsai and Steve Sugimoto. Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan will also have four individuals competing in the South Bay, with junior Otto Vanhatalo joining freshmen Christian Banke, Zihao Jin and Ryan McCoy.
The Scarlet and Black is coming off a fourth-place showing at the Southwestern Invitational two weeks ago in the Los Angeles area, where it shot a combined 29-over 893 in a tournament that was plagued by rain, wind and hail. Samiere was SDSU's No. 1 golfer, finishing alone in 11th place at 2-over 218, while Abercrombie was shot behind in four-way tie for 12th at 3-over 219.
Samiere leads the Aztecs with a 71.52 scoring average so far this season, followed by Abercrombie (72.26) and Sugimoto (73.35). Samiere and Abercrombie are the lone SDSU players to appear in all eight events for the Scarlet and Black this year, while Sugimoto and Anupansuebsai (74.53) will each be making their third varsity starts of the spring slate.
The Lamkin San Diego Classic is celebrating its 11th anniversary while marking its eighth consecutive year as a two-day, 54-hole competition. The tournament, formerly known as the San Diego Intercollegiate, was launched in 2008 primarily as an opportunity for local schools to compete against one another. The event has now expanded from local competition to host teams from all across the nation.
This is the ninth time overall and eighth year in a row that the Lamkin San Diego Classic will be held at San Diego Country Club. The inaugural event took place at the Chula Vista course and moved to the La Jolla Country Club in 2009, followed by a one-year stint at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in 2010. Before becoming a two-day tournament in 2011, the event was a one-day, 36-hole challenge.
Bolstered by medalist Ben Wolcott, who fired a 9-under-par 207, Ole Miss captured the team title at last year's event with a collective 16-under 848, while North Carolina, Middle Tennessee State and Texas were distant runners-up after each compiled a 2-under 862.
In addition, SDSU tied New Mexico for fifth place at even-par 864 in 2017, with Blake Abercrombie finishing in a three-way tie for second on the individual leaderboard at 6-under 210, alongside the Texas duo of Scottie Scheffler and Gavin Hall. Samiere is the other remaining starter from last season's tournament, where he tied for 11th with a 3-under 213.
In 2016, the Aztecs finished in third at 4-over 220, while Texas (-12) captured the team championship after topping second-place New Mexico (-3) by nine shots, buoyed by Beau Hossler's medal-winning effort of 8-under 208.
The Aztecs landed in the sixth spot at SDCC in 2015 after posting an 8-over 872, while former SDSU All-American Xander Schauffele tied for 10th on the individual leaderboard with an even-par 216. Schauffele took home the top prize as a junior in 2014 after carding an 11-under 205, propelling the Scarlet and Black to a second-place standing.
The previous year in 2013, SDSU earned its only team championship in the history of the event, while USD captured a pair of crowns in 2008 and 2010. In addition, Point Loma Nazarene emerged victorious in 2009, while SMU grabbed the top spot in 2011, followed by Washington in 2012 and USC in 2014.
Following the Lamkin San Diego Classic, the Aztecs will have eight days to prepare for Kansas State's Bighorn Invitational, set for March 23-24 at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif.