SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State women's golf team begins its 2021 season Monday by hosting the Lamkin Invitational at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
The ninth annual tournament, which underwent a name change two years ago from the SDSU March Mayhem, will feature stroke play for the first time since 2014 after six consecutive years of match-play format on the par-72, 6,318-yard course layout. There will be three rounds of stroke play with two 18-hole rounds conducted on Monday and the final round taking place on Tuesday.
The Aztecs will be joined in the 11-team tournament by Colorado, Hawai'i, Long Beach State, New Mexico, TCU, Tulane, UC Irvine, UCLA, USC and Washington State, while Arizona will have three individual competitors in the event.
SDSU is paired with UCLA and USC for all three rounds, including set start times of 8 a.m. PT on both Monday and Tuesday. The tournament starts at 7 a.m. PT Monday.
San Diego State is looking to defend the Lamkin Invitational after beating San José State, 3-2, in the championship of the match-play event last year. The Aztecs haven't played competitively as a team since taking sixth at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in Kane'ohe, Hawaii, on March 10-11, 2020 before the rest of the competitive spring season and the fall campaign was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
SDSU head coach Leslie Spalding has penciled in the starting lineup of senior Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), junior April Ranches (San Diego), sophomore Bernice Olivarez Ilas (Ayala Alabang, Philippines), freshman Andrea Gomez (Huixquilucan, Mexico) and senior Ella Adams (Adelaide, Australia). Sophomore Sammy Lee and Anna Lina Otten, meanwhile, will be competing as individuals for SDSU.
Kjellker is San Diego State's top returner after posting a 72.73 scoring average in six events during the shortened 2019-20 campaign en route to being named a Mountain West first-team selection for the second time of her career. Kjellker led the team (or tied for the team lead) in five of the six events she competed in, and also led the team in rounds in the 60s (3) and rounds below par (8). In fact, she had eight of the team's 11 rounds below par.
Ranches, meanwhile, competed in six events in the 2019-20 season, including four as part of the team and two as an individual. Ranches posted a 76.33 stroke average, which ranked fifth on the team, and went on to be named to the 2019-20 WGCA All-American Scholar Team.
Ilas recorded a 75.50 scoring average a season ago in her first year with the Aztecs. Competing in six tournaments (all as part of the team), Ilas tied for third on the team in rounds in the 60s (1), rounds below par (1) and even-par rounds (1), while ranking fourth in stroke average.
Gomez will be playing in her first collegiate event after a standout amateur career in Mexico.
The final member of the scoring five, Adams played in five tournaments in her first season as an Aztec in 2019-20 after transferring from Kansas State. Adams finished with a 76.50 scoring average in the shortened campaign.
Lee and Otten will join Gomez as first-time participants in a collegiate tournament.
SDSU will look for its second Lamkin Invite title after last year's triumph. USC (2013-14-16-17-18) has a record five tournament titles, while Vanderbilt (2019) and Tennessee (2015) join San Diego State with one title apiece.
Following the Lamkin Invitational, the Aztecs will compete at the Bruin Wave Invitational at The Saticoy Club, March 1-3, in Somis, Calif.
Women’s Golf Set to Host Lamkin Invitational
