SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's golf team hits the fairways for the first time this season when it participates in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, Sept. 10-11, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament commences on Monday with the first two rounds, while the final 18 holes are slated for a Tuesday completion on the par-72, 6,317-yard UNM Championship Course. A live scoring link for all three rounds will be available courtesy of Golfstat on GoAztecs.com.
San Diego State, which received votes in last month's WGCA preseason rankings, will square off against five teams that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Championships, including California, Colorado, Kent State, Northwestern and Pepperdine. In addition, the Aztecs will get an early look at Mountain West rivals Fresno State, UNLV and host New Mexico, while Central Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Iowa State, New Mexico State, UC Davis and Washington State round out the list of competing teams.
Eighth-year head coach Leslie Spalding will accompany six golfers to the Duke City, including the starting lineup of seniors Daniela Anastasi (La Jolla, Calif.) and Kitty Tam (Hong Kong, China), junior Fernanda Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay) and sophomores Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland) and Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden). In addition, freshman Tatum Mahon (San Diego, Calif.) will make her collegiate debut competing as an individual player.
Kjellker made a tremendous impact during her freshman campaign in 2017-18, earning first-team all-Mountain West honors after leading the Scarlet and Black with a 75.18 scoring average to go with a team-high four top-10 placements. The native Swede was San Diego State's top finisher in five events last season, highlighted by a third-place performance in the stroke-play phase of the SDSU March Mayhem at The Farms Golf Club. She also collected a pair of MW Player of the Week awards following a seventh-place effort at the Bruin Wave Invitational in late February and an eighth-place showing at North Texas' Bruzzy Challenge in April.
Carpinelli, meanwhile, was the lone Aztec to compete in all 12 events last year, finishing fourth on the squad with a 75.84 stroke average to go with four top-25 finishes, highlighted by a second-place tie at the Hawkeye-El Tigre Invitational in mid-March to claim MW Women's Golfer of the Week honors. She also recorded two victories in match play at the SDSU March Mayhem event, including a win over NCAA tournament participant Brittany Fan of Colorado.
The Aztecs are also looking for the return to form of Escauriza (76.10), who captured medalist honors as a freshman at the 2017 Mountain West Championship, while Anastasi and Tam have shown steady improvement and are expected to play more significant roles during the upcoming season.
This year marks the 40th installment of the Branch/McGuire, which became a separate tournament in 1979, after the New Mexico women's squad co-hosted the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate with the Lobo men's team from 1956-78. With the exception of the 2007-08 campaign when the tournament was on hiatus, SDSU has appeared in each of the last 15 Branch/McGuire Invites, highlighted by fifth-place finishes in 2011, 2014 and 2017.
Kjellker and Carpinelli are the lone holdovers from last season's excursion to New Mexico, leading a balanced Aztec lineup as each carded a 4-over-par 220 to tie for the 25th position.
With 2017 champion Oklahoma State skipping this year's event, Northwestern is the top returning squad after landing two strokes behind the Cowgirls in the runner-up spot at 1-over 865, while Colorado tied for third with Stanford at 5-over 869, followed by San Diego State (+12).
Colorado's Robyn Choi, Northwestern's Janet Mao and New Mexico's Darian Zachek are the top returning individuals after each tied for fifth with a 2-under 214. Also back in the mix are Colorado's Kirsty Hodgkins (T-10th), UNLV's Nastasia Kossacky (T-18th), Pepperdine's Hannah Haythorne (T-20th) and Northwestern's Stephanie Lau (T-20th).
Following the Branch/McGuire Invitational, the Aztecs will venture back to the Mountain time zone for the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Sept. 24-26, at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott, Colo.
Women's Golf Set for Season Opener in New Mexico
