SDSU Heads to Arizona’s N.I.T.

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team resumes action this weekend at Arizona's National Invitational Tournament on the par-72, 7,200-yard Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona. The N.I.T. will be conducted with 36 holes on Friday and the final 18-hole round on Saturday.
 
The Aztecs, who are 27th in the latest GolfStat rankings released March 14, will be joined in the 13-team field by eight top-25 teams, including No. 3 Arizona State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 9 Pepperdine, No. 12 Florida, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 18 Arizona, No. 21 Colorado State and No. 22 Oklahoma State, along with New Mexico, San Diego, USC and Wyoming.
 
The Aztecs will tee off from the ninth and 10th holes in the first round along with Colorado State, New Mexico and San Diego, beginning at 8 a.m. PT Friday in a shotgun start and will continue the second round from the same holes. Saturday's final round will be based on team score.
 
SDSU is coming off a runner-up finish to New Mexico (-20) at 19-under-par at the Lamkin San Diego Classic March 6-7 at historic San Diego Country Club in nearby Chula Vista.
 
San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan has gone with the lineup of freshman Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), sophomore Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), sophomore Shea League (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS), freshman Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS) and senior Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS).
 
Lague leads the Aztecs with a 70.05 scoring average through 21 rounds, while Hastings is right behind at 70.81. Oyama is third at 72.14, followed by Kowack (72.44), freshman Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) (73.06) and Guezzale (73.11).
 
SDSU took 14th at last year's event at 6-over 870, led by Guezzale's 4-under 212 for a tie for 23rd. San Diego State also recently finished fourth in 2021 and ninth in 2019.
 
In 2015, Xander Schauffele tied for second out of 83 participants with a 4-under 212 to earn his third straight Mountain West Men's Golfer of the Week honor. The former Aztec All-American also tied for sixth at the event in 2014 with a 6-under 210.
 
The Aztecs have experienced previous success at the Arizona NIT, capturing the team title in 2012 after recording a collective 5-under 859 to clip UNLV (-4) by one shot. SDSU also boasted the individual champion that year, as J.J. Spaun led the pack with a combined 15-under 201 on rounds of 67-66-68.
 
Following this weekend's N.I.T., San Diego State will look to win its third consecutive Wyoming Cowboy Classic title April 3-4 at Whirlwind Golf Course in Chandler, Arizona.