No. 9 Aztec Men’s Golf Heads to The Prestige

SAN DIEGO -- The ninth-ranked San Diego State men's golf team resumes competitive play Monday at The Prestige at PGA WEST, Feb. 15-17, in La Quinta, Calif. The Aztecs are one of 24 schools slated to compete in the 21st annual event, which will feature 18-hole rounds on three consecutive days at the par-71, 7,100-yard Greg Norman Course.
 
The tournament includes six programs ranked among the top 25 in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll. Along with No. 9 SDSU, set to compete at The Prestige are No. 3 Arizona State, No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 11 Arizona, No. 16 Texas Tech, No. 17 SMU, California, Cal Poly, Colorado, Denver, Iowa State, Long Beach State, Marquette, Nevada, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, TCU, UC Davis, UCLA, USC and Wyoming have also entered teams for The Prestige.
 
San Diego State will tee off from the first hole, beginning at 6:45 a.m. PT Monday, and will be playing with USC and North Carolina. On Tuesday the same three teams will tee off from the 10th hole at 11 a.m. PT. Wednesday's final round gets underway at 7 a.m. PT while the leaders will play in the afternoon wave at 11 a.m. PT.
 
The Aztecs are ranked ninth in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll and are also sixth in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin team ratings (as of Feb. 10). SDSU won its lone tournament of the season, claiming the Southwestern Invitational from Jan. 25-27 at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif. San Diego State beat three teams at the tournament currently ranked in the top 25, including No. 3 Arizona State, No. 5 Pepperdine and No. 17 SMU.
 
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan is going with the same lineup that won the Southwestern Invitational from Jan. 25-27, including Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), Zihao Jin (Beijing, China), Youssef Guezzale (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla HS), Joey Moore (Billings, Mont.) and Steve Sugimoto (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo HS).
 
Guezzale led SDSU at the Southwestern Invitational by tying for third out of 66 players at even-par 216. For his efforts, he was named the Mountain West Men's Golfer of the Week. Guezzale is rated 12th in the country by Golfweek/Sagarin (as of Feb. 10).
 
Moore, meanwhile tied for ninth at 2-over 218, while Jin (+4) tied for 11th, Aunpansubsai (+8) tied for 20th and Sugimoto (+10) tied for 26th. Moore is 24th in the Sagarin ratings and Jin is also rated in the top 50 at No. 46.
 
Freshmen Jack Heath (Charlotte, N.C.) and Liam Koeneke (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) are also making the trip to La Quinta and will compete individually at Coral Mountain Golf Club, which begins at 7:30 a.m. PT all three days.

Texas is the defending tournament team champion but is not competing this year. The top returning teams from a year ago are Pepperdine (-14), San Diego State (-11), Texas Tech (-9), SMU (-5) and UCLA (-3).
 
The Greg Norman Course has played host to The Prestige at PGA West on 13 different occasions (2004-08, 2011, 2013-14, and 2016-20). Other venues included the Desert Willow Golf Club (2000-01), La Quinta Mountain Resort Course (2002-03), TPC Stadium Course (2009-10) and Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course (2015). In its history, The Prestige was a fixture on the fall segment of college men's golf schedule for 13 years before moving to the spring in 2013.
 
Following The Prestige, the Aztecs will co-host the Lamkin Invitational at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif., from March 8-10.