SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's golf team begins its spring portion of the schedule on Monday when it hosts the Lamkin Invitational at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.
The eighth annual tournament, which underwent a name change last year from the SDSU March Mayhem, will include a match-play format for the sixth consecutive season on the par-72, 6,318-yard course layout at The Farms Golf Club. Admission is free to the public.
There will be three rounds of match play for the eight-team invitational with two rounds conducted on Monday and the final round taking place on Tuesday.
The Aztecs enter as the No. 2 seed in the invitational and will face seventh-seeded UC Irvine in the opening round. SDSU will then face either third-seeded Colorado or sixth-seeded Central Arkansas later Monday in either the championship or consolation bracket.
Monday morning's other matchups include No. 1 San José State vs. No. 8 Cal State San Marcos and No. 4 Brigham Young against No. 5 Washington State.
Monday's first round matches begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. PT with the second round matches set for approximately 12:30 p.m. PT. Tuesday's matches, meanwhile, will start at 7:30 a.m. PT.
San Diego State head coach Leslie Spalding has penciled in the starting lineup of Fernanda Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay), April Ranches (San Diego), Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland) and Ella Adams (Adelaide, Australia).
Escauriza will take on UC Irvine's Megan Yang, while Ranches will face UCI's Angela Bagasbas. Kjellker, meanwhile, will take on Maddie Riggs, Carpinelli will face Sienna Lyford, and Adams will meet Cameron Lee.
Kjellker was the Aztecs' top performer in the fall, owning a 71.44 scoring average with three top-10 finishes. The junior's best fall finish was at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott, Colo., where she tied for fourth at 7-under 209. She also tied for eighth at the season-opening Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., and tied for seventh at the Molly Murphy Crowley Collegiate in Portland, Ore.
Carpinelli ranks second on the squad with a 73.42 scoring average to go along with a pair of top-10 placements. She tied for 10th at the Branch/McGuire Invite after firing a 3-under 213, highlighted by a career-low 66 in round. Carpinelli also tied for seventh at the Crowley Collegiate, carding a 5-over 221 in a field where only three competitors broke par for the week.
Escauriza, meanwhile, was the only SDSU golfer to start all four events last fall. The senior posted the third-lowest scoring average (74.42) in the fall, highlighted by a pair of 23rd-place finishes at the Branch/McGuire Invite and the Stanford Intercollegiate in Stanford, Calif.
Ranches (75.00) and Adams (76.78) will be making their third starts of the season and fourth appearances overall.
San Diego State took third at last year's Lamkin Invitational, defeating Sacramento State, 4-1. Vanderbilt claimed the team title, downing California, 4-1. Three other teams that are in this year's tournament also competed at the 2019 Lamkin Invitational, including San José State (sixth place), UC Irvine (eighth) and Central Arkansas (round robin participant).
Following this week's tournament, the Aztecs will compete in the Bruin Wave Invitational at the San Luis Obispo Country Club in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Feb. 24-25.
Women’s Golf Set to Host Lamkin Invitational
