SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team kicks off the spring campaign of the 2023-24 season at the Southwestern Invitational, Jan. 29-31 at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, California.
The Aztecs, who are ranked 34th in the country in the NCAA rankings, released Wednesday, Jan. 24, will once again face stout opponents in the 13-team field. Others top-50 teams in the tournament include No. 4 Washington, No. 18 California, No. 21 Texas Tech, No. 27 Ohio State, No. 31 UCLA, No. 42 Wake Forest and No. 48 San Jose State. Colorado, Houston, tournament host Pepperdine, UNLV and USC art also slated to compete next week.
The event will feature 18-hole rounds on three consecutive days at the par-72, 6,800-yard Lakes and Oaks courses.
San Diego State hasn't competed in over three months but is coming off another successful fall campaign. The Aztecs had a pair of third-place finishes - Maui Jim Intercollegiate (Sept. 8-10) and William H. Tucker Intercollegiate (Sept. 25-26) - a fifth-place showing at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup (Oct. 9-10) and an 11th-place outing at the Husky Invitational (Sept. 18-19).
Sophomore Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy) led SDSU with a 69.42 stroke average in the fall and is ranked 77th in the latest NCAA individual rankings. Kowack was particularly strong down the stretch of the fall season, winning the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and tying for fifth at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup. Kowack paces San Diego State in rounds in the 60s (6) and is tied for the most rounds below par (8) with junior Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands).
Hastings, meanwhile, is second on the team with a 69.58 stroke average, just two shots (-26) behind Kowack (-28) for the year so far. Hastings opened with a win at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate and came in seventh at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup.
Junior Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) is third (71.08), while sophomore Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) is also under par at 71.50.
For the spring opener, Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan has penciled in the lineup of Hastings, Lague, Kowack, Chokprajakchat and senior Jackson Moss (San Diego/Point Loma HS). Junior Jack Townsend (San Diego/Charter School of San Diego) is also competing as an individual.
San Diego State will tee off from the 10th hole beginning at 8 a.m. PT along with Wake Forest and UNLV.
The Aztecs tied for eighth out of 12 teams last year at 21-over 885. Hastings led the way in a tie for ninth at 1-under 215, while Lague was the only other top-20 finisher for SDSU in a tie for 15th at +1.
In 2021, SDSU rallied for the Southwestern Invitational team title after a gutsy final day that saw San Diego State post the best score by seven strokes. The Aztecs finished at 10-over-par 874 to beat Arizona State (+13) by three shots. Trailing by seven to ASU and in a tie for third after two rounds, SDSU fired a final-round 5-over 293 in windy and chilly conditions to blow by the Sun Devils and their 15-over 303.
It was San Diego State's third Southwestern Invitational title (also 2011 and 2012), which now only trails Arizona State (9), USC (7), Stanford (5) and UCLA (5).
Past individual winners of the Southwestern Invitational include notable golfers Corey Pavin (1978 and 1981), Billy Mayfair (1987), Tiger Woods (1996), Paul Casey (1998), Anthony Kim (2006), Patrick Cantlay (2011), Maverick McNealy (2014), Sahith Theegala (2017 and 2020), Justin Suh (2019) and David Puig (2021-22). The lone medalist from the Aztecs was Matt Hoffenberg in 2012 at 2-over 212.
The Southwestern Invitational is the merger of two previously existing tournaments: the Southwestern Intercollegiate, launched by USC in 1978, and the Jones Invitational, hosted by Pepperdine in 2014 and 2015.
Following the Southwestern Invitational, SDSU will compete in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course Hokuala, Feb. 15-17, in Lihue, Hawaii.
Aztecs Open Spring Season at Southwestern Invite
