SAN DIEGO -- In its final tune-up before defending its Mountain West Championship, the San Diego State men's golf team heads to the Western Intercollegiate Monday on the historic par-70, 6,486-yard Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California. The tournament will feature 18 holes apiece on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Aztecs are one of 14 teams competing at the Western Intercollegiate, including 10 programs - No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Arizona, No. 17 Texas, No. 21 California, No. 25 Oregon, No. 34 SDSU, No. 38 Stanford, No. 41 Brigham Young, No. 42 Chattanooga
No. 50 UNLV - in the top 50 of the latest NCAA computer rankings (as of April 10). Also in the field is Hawai'i, Pepperdine, host San Jose State and UC Irvine
The Western Intercollegiate will air live on the GOLF Channel from 4-7 p.m. PT each day.
San Diego State is coming off a tied for 14th-place finish at The Goodwin, March 28-30, at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The Western Intercollegiate is a six-count-five event, as opposed to the usual five-count-four event. Head coach Ryan Donovan going with the lineup of Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), Skyler Ngo (Las Vegas, Nev.), Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), Jackson Moss (San Diego/Point Loma HS), Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) and Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS).
For the season, Kowack leads the team with a 70.23 stroke average, followed by Hastings (71.21), Chokprajakchat (71.74), Ngo (71.75) and Lague (72.04).
Entering its 77th year, the Western Intercollegiate was christened in 1947 and is the oldest running men's college golf tournament west of the Mississippi River. The individual medalist at the Western receives the coveted Blue Jacket, honoring legendary Pasatiempo Golf Club course designer Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National Golf Club.
SDSU will be making its 13th consecutive appearance, but just its 14th since 2001. San Diego State finished eighth out of 14 teams at last year's tournament at 28-over 1,078.
Four of the six Aztec starters played in last year's Western Intercollegiate, led by Hastings, who tied for 22nd at 4-over 214. Ngo tied for 31st at +6, Chokprajakchat tied for 48th (+9) and Lague tied for 58th (+11).
Lars Johansson is the most recent SDSU individual champion at the event, capturing medalist honors in 2001 after defeating Jason Higton of Pacific on the first hole of a sudden death playoff. In addition, Kris Moe emerged victorious at the Western in 1983, while Ron O'Connor accomplished the feat in 1960, guiding the Aztecs to their only team title in the history of the invitational.
Other notable winners of the Western Intercollegiate include Ken Venturi (1951, 1953), Johnny Miller (1968), Howard Twitty (1972), Peter Jacobsen (1974), Mark O'Meara (1978), Bobby Clampett (1980), Duffy Waldorf (1985), Arron Oberholser (1996), Joel Kribel (1997, 1999), Jason Allred (2000) and Scottie Scheffler (2015).
In all, players who have competed in the Western Intercollegiate account for 565 PGA TOUR victories and 52 major championships, including past participants Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Steve Stricker and Roger Maltbie, not to mention former Aztec All-American Xander Schauffele. Additionally, 99 Western Intercollegiate alumni have PGA Tour victories, including former SDSU All-American J.J. Spaun.
Pepperdine (-16) took home the team title in 2023, led by medalist Derek Hitchner (-7).
The Western Intercollegiate is SDSU's final event before the Mountain West Championship, set for April 26-28 at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.
Aztec Men’s Golf Set for Western Intercollegiate
