SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team will be aiming for its fourth conference title in the last 11 championships this weekend when it travels to Bremerton, Washington, for the Mountain West Championships, April 29-May 1.
For just the second time in the last 15 championships, the 54-hole event will not be contested on the Catalina Course at the OMNI Tucson National Golf Club. This year's event will be played on the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington, which will play as a par-72, 7,115-yard track. The MW Championships also took place at the Olympic Course in 2018.
The 11-team field will complete 18 holes on each of the three days, following a practice round on Thursday. The Aztecs earned the No. 3 seed and are slated to tee off with No. 4 Boise State in the second group on Friday, starting at 8:40 a.m. PT, while the pairings for the final two rounds will be based on team standings. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
SDSU enters the tournament ranked 51st in the latest GolfStat team rankings (April 26). New Mexico leads the field at No. 34, followed by No. 35 Nevada, No. 50 San Diego State, No. 51 Boise State, No. 70 Colorado State, No. 85 San Jose State, No. 87 Fresno State, No. 89 UNLV, No. 114 Wyoming, No. 208 Utah State and No. 271 Air Force.
The Aztecs are returning to the Olympic Course for the second time this season after tying for ninth out of 16 teams at the Husky Invitational back in September (Sept. 20-21) at 9-over 873. The three other MW teams in that tournament beat SDSU that weekend, including Nevada (T-1st, -18), Boise State (4th, -8) and San Jose State (5th, -5).
Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand) tied for 11th out of 80 players at 4-under 212. Steve Sugimoto (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) was a stroke back in a tie for 15th at 3-under 213, while Liam Koeneke (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) (T-61st, +9), Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS) (T-63rd, +10) and Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) (T-69th, +12) were toward the back of the pack.
San Diego State has one team championship on the season, claiming the Wyoming Cowboy Classic title for the second straight year with a tournament-record 39-under 825, April 4-5 at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Arizona.
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan has gone with the lineup of Guezzale, Anupansuebsai, Zihao Jin (Beijing/Rancho Bernardo HS), Sugimoto and Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) for the MW Championship with Lague serving as an alternate.
Guezzale will be playing in his second MW Championship after tying for eighth in Arizona at last year's tournament at 5-under 211. Guezzale ranks fourth on the team with a 72.70 scoring average, while leading the Aztecs with nine rounds in the 60s and 12 rounds below par.
Anupansuebsai is the defending MW champion, winning last year's tournament with a 7-under 209. Anupanusebsai fired a final-round 6-under 66 to get into a four-man playoff, where he won with a birdie on the second playoff hole. The three-time all-MW selection tied for eighth at the 2019 MW Championship at 8-under 208 and tied for 27th at the 2018 tournament on the same course (Gold Mountain Golf Club) that will be hosting it this year. On the season, he is second on the team with a 72.30 stroke average across nine tournaments and 27 rounds.
Jin, meanwhile, leads the team with a 72.05 scoring average, competing in seven tournaments and 21 rounds. Jin has been SDSU's top finisher in three of the seven tournaments he has played. Last year was his first MW Championship experience where he tied for 34th at 6-over 222.
Sugimoto owns a 72.67 stroke average, good enough for third on the team. Sugimoto is the only Aztec to play and start all 10 team tournaments this season. He finished in a tie for 17th at the 2021 MW Championship at 2-under 214 and tied for 25th in 2019 at 1-under 215.
Hastings is the final Aztec and the lone freshmen in the starting lineup. Hastings has a 72.90 scoring average across 21 rounds (and seven tournaments). He has twice been named the MW Men's Golf Freshman of the Week this season, and has a victory at the UC San Diego Invitational and a T5 at the Western Intercollegiate in SDSU's last tournament from April 11-13.
Lague, who is listed as an alternate, has a 73.10 average in 21 rounds (and seven tournaments) this year. Like Hastings, Lague is a freshman.
San Diego State is 12-9-1 in head-to-head results against nine conference teams during the 2022 campaign, including unblemished marks against UNLV (3-0), Fresno State (1-0) and Utah State (1-0). The Aztecs are also 2-1 against San Jose State, 2-2-1 vs. Colorado State and 1-1 against New Mexico. SDSU is 1-2 against both Nevada and Wyoming, and 0-1 vs. Boise State. Air Force is the only MW school SDSU has yet to play in the same tournament this season.
In the 22-year history of the MW (not counting the 2020 cancellation due to COVID), San Diego State has won three team championships, capturing back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, followed by a thrilling victory in 2015. The Aztecs also tied for the top spot in 2009 but lost in a team playoff to TCU after rallying from a five-stroke deficit in regulation.
In addition, SDSU has finished second seven times (2001, 2003, 2006, 2009-10, 2013-14), third once (2021), played fourth on five occasions (2002, 2004-05, 2016-17), came in fifth in three tournaments (2000, 2007, 2019), and ended up in the seventh (2008) and eighth (2018) positions once each.
San Diego State has had two individual winners, including John Lepak in 2001 at Sunriver Resort in Oregon and Anupansuebsai last year in Arizona. The Aztecs also have playoff losses by Adam Porzak in 2007 and Riccardo Michelini in 2014, and other top-3 finishes by Xander Schauffele (2nd, 2015), Nahum Mandoza III (T-3rd, 2016) and Gunn Yang (T-3rd, 2017). SDSU, which has routinely fared well on the individual leaderboard at the MW tournament, has a top-4 finisher in 13 of the last 15 MW championships.
Dramatically sculpted into the Pacific Northwest splendor, the Olympic course at Gold Mountain Golf Club has garnered impressive awards and has taken its place as one of America's finest municipally owned golf courses. The Olympic course has hosted numerous championship events, including the NCAA Men's Regionals (2008 and 2015), the 2011 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and the 2018 MW Championship.
New Mexico has won a league-record eight MW crowns, followed by UNLV (5), San Diego State (3), Colorado State (2), former conference member Brigham Young (2) and former member TCU (1).
Additionally, eight different schools have had a player win the individual title, including SDSU (2001, 2021), UNLV (2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018), New Mexico (2003, 2006, 2009, 2014, 2019), Colorado State (2002, 2010), Boise State (2017), Fresno State (2016), TCU (2007, 2012) and BYU (2005).
SDSU Set for 2022 Mountain West Championship
