SDSU to Compete in Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's golf team heads to Hawaii to compete in the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, beginning Tuesday on the par-72, 6,099-yard Kane'ohe Klipper Golf Course in Kane'ohe, O'ahu. The Aztecs will be competing with 15 other schools in the 54-hole tournament, which will feature two 18-hole rounds on Tuesday and the final round on Wednesday.
 
Only two teams in the tournament are ranked higher than No. 50 SDSU in No. 3 Arizona State and No. 45 TCU. Other schools entered are tournament host Hawai'i, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Montana State, Nevada, Ohio State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Seattle Univ., Stetson, UNC Asheville, UTEP, Xavier and Yale.
 
In the shotgun start, San Diego State will tee off from holes 12 through 16, beginning at 8:05 a.m. HT (11:05 a.m. PT), with Nevada, Kennesaw State and Stetson. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com, with the final round on Tuesday set for 8:05 a.m. HT (11:05 a.m. PT).
 
SDSU head coach Leslie Spalding has gone with the lineup of junior Sarah Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), junior Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland), senior Fernando Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay), junior Ella Adams (Adelaide, Australia) and freshman Bernice Olivarez Ilas (Ayala Alabang, Philippines), while sophomore April Ranches (San Diego) will be competing as an individual.
 
San Diego State tied for eighth place in its last outing at the Bruin Wave Invitational on Feb. 24-25 at San Luis Obispo Country Club in San Luis Obispo, Calif., after shooting 55-over-par 919. Carpinelli was the team's top finisher, taking 15th at 7-over 223.
 
Kjellker leads the Aztecs with a 72.67 scoring average and three top-10 finishes. Her best finish on the season in stroke play was when she tied for fourth at 7-under 209 at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott, Colo., from Sept. 23-25. This spring, she won three matches at SDSU's Lamkin Invitational on Feb. 10-11 en route to being named the Mountain West Women's Golfer of the Week on Feb. 13 and came in tied for 28th at the Bruin Wave Invite at 13-over 229.
 
Carpinelli ranks second on the squad with a 73.60 average to go along with a pair of top-10 placements. She also won all three matches at the Lamkin Invitational. In the fall, she tied for 10th at the Branch/McGuire Invitational on Sept. 9-10 after firing a 3-under 213, highlighted by a career-low 66 in round. Carpinelli also tied for seventh at the Crowley Collegiate (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), carding a 5-over 221 in a field where only three competitors broke par for the week.
 
Escauriza, meanwhile, joins Carpinelli as the only SDSU golfers to play in all six team events so far in the 2019-20 season. Escauriza's scoring average of 74.73 ranks third on the team, highlighted by a pair of 23rd-place finishes at the Branch/McGuire Invite and the Stanford Intercollegiate (Oct. 11-13) in Stanford, Calif.
 
Ilas (75.56) and Adams (76.78) are also competed for San Diego State, while Ranches (76.58) is entered as an individual.
 
The Dr. Donnis Thompson is celebrating its 35th year in 2020. The Rainbow Wahine Invitational was re-named as the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in 1999 in honor of UH's first women's athletics director, who was an avid supporter of women's equality. Dr. Thompson was inducted into the school's Sports Circle of Honor in 1988 for her tremendous achievements and many contributions to the UH Athletics programs. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 75.
 
The Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational is held every March at the Kane'ohe Klipper Golf Course on the windward side of the island of O'ahu. The course has served as home to the tournament every year except when it moved to Olomana Golf Links in 2000 and 2001. The Klipper is known for its majestic views of the Ko'olau Mountain Range and the raging surf of the Pacific Ocean. The course was designed by William P. Bell, ASGCA, and opened in 1939.
 
Texas and SMU were the co-champions last year at 23-over 887 and the defending individual champion is Texas A&M's Courtney Dow (even-par 216). The low three-round team record is 8-under 856 by Tennessee in 2006 while the individual record is 9-under 207 by Texas A&M's  Maddie Szeryk in 2017.
 
SDSU last traveled to the Aloha State in the fall of 2009 when it competed in the Turtle Bay Resort Collegiate Invitational on the North Shore of Oahu in Kahuku.
 
Following the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, San Diego State will head to Saddlebrooke, Ariz., for the three-day Mountainview Collegiate Invitational from March 20-22.