SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team returns to action Sunday at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. The three-day event will feature 18-hole rounds on the par-72, 7,510-yard course.
The Aztecs enter the tournament ranked 35th in the latest NCAA computer rankings, released Feb. 21. The 15-team field also includes No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Auburn, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 16 New Mexico, No. 17 Illinois, No. 21 Texas, No. 23 Florida, No. 29 Georgia, No. 30 Texas A&M, No. 34 Missouri, No. 50 UNLV, Pepperdine and TCU.
The first round begins at 9 a.m. PT Sunday.
SDSU is coming off a 12th-place showing at the John Burns Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course Hokuala in Lihue, Hawai'i on Feb. 15-17 at 8-over 872.
Junior Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) tied for fifth out of 122 golfers at 6-under 210. Sophomore Tyler Kowack (Del Mar, Calif./La Jolla HS) tied for 36th (+2), sophomore Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) tied for 58th (+6), junior Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) tied for 75th (+9) and senior Jackson Moss (San Diego/Point Loma HS) tied for 93rd (+13).
Kowack leads San Diego State with a 69.83 scoring average through six tournaments and 18 rounds, while Hastings is second at 70.22. Hastings is 59th in the NCAA individual rankings, while Kowack is 66th. Chokprajakchat is third (71.61), followed by Lague (72.00) and junior Jack Townsend (San Diego/Charter School of San Diego) (72.75).
The lineups and pairings were not available as of 4:45 p.m. PT Saturday.
The Aztecs are playing in the Southern Highlands Collegiate for a second straight season after tying for 13th out of 15 teams last year at 9-over 873. Chokprajakchat and Lague were SDSU's top finishers at last year's event at 2-over 218. Hastings (+4) tied for 50th, current sophomore Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS) was 59th (+7) and Kowack tied for 75th at +13. SDSU previously competed in the 2017 event, taking 15th out of 15 at 41-over 905, and in October 2006 when it claimed both the individual and team titles at the District 7 Shootout. San Diego State shot a combined 30-under 852 on Angel Park Golf Club's Mountain Course, topping runner-up Boise State by 14 strokes. The Aztecs also boasted four top-10 individual finishes, including medalist Aaron Goldberg, who carded a then-school record 201 in regulation before defeating Boise State's Troy Merritt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff.
Florida's Yuxin Lin won the individual title last year at 13-under 203, while Illinois captured the team title at 21-under 843.
For the fourth time, the individual champion will receive an exemption into the Shriners Children's Open, which will take place Oct. 14-20, 2024, at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.
Following the Southern Highlands Collegiate, the Aztecs will play host to their lone tournament of the season with the San Diego Classic, March 4-5 at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, California.