No. 20 SDSU Men’s Golf Readies for John A. Burns Intercollegiate

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men’s golf team continues its season this weekend at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course at Hokuala, Feb. 13-15, in Lihue, Kaua‘i, Hawaii.

The Aztecs enter the tournament 20th in the latest NCAA golf computer rankings, which were released Wednesday morning. SDSU is one of nine teams in the 17-team field who are in the top-60 of the rankings, including No. 10 Illinois, No. 16 Utah, No. 21 Brigham Young, No. 26 Texas A&M, No. 39 Long Beach State, No. 41 UNLV, No. 52 Grand Canyon and No. 57 California. Other competitors are Fresno State, Hawai’i, Missouri, New Mexico, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, UTEP and Washington State.

The event will feature 18-hole rounds on three consecutive days at the par-70, 7,098-yard course.

San Diego State is coming off an impressive runner-up finish at the Southwestern Invitational, Jan. 27-29, shooting 7-under-par 845 against a national caliber field on the par-71, 7,076-yard Sherwood Country Club. In a 14-team field that included seven teams in the top 25, SDSU (-7) finished ahead of notable programs (rankings listed at time of competition) like No. 15 Vanderbilt (-4), No. 19 Pepperdine (E), No. 14 Florida (+5), No. 43 USC (+11), No. 44 UNLV (+11), No. 24 Duke (+12), No. 10 UCLA (+27) and No. 11 Arizona (+32) and four other teams.

Fresh off capturing the 2025 Latin American Amateur Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and receiving an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and exemptions into The Open and the U.S. Open, senior Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) tied for second out of 75 golfers at 4-under 209, one shot behind medalist Wells Williams of Vanderbilt. For his efforts, Hastings was named the Mountain West Men’s Golfer of the Week on Jan. 30.

Junior Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) tied for 10th at 1-under 212, junior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy) and sophomore Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) each tied for 31st at +5. Freshman Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia), who was unable to play in the second round because of a minor injury, bounced back with a 3-under 68 after shooting an even-par 71 in the opening round.

Hastings leads the team with a 71.27 stroke average through 15 rounds. Chokprajakchat is second at 71.60, followed by Kowack (71.87), Takis (72.36), senior Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) (73.42) and Sampson (74.78).

Starting for head coach Ryan Donovan this weekend will be Hastings, Kowack, Chokprajakchat, Takis and Lague.

The Aztecs will tee off between the 11th and 14th holes, beginning at 9 a.m. HT (11 a.m. PT) in Thursday’s opening round and will play along with Missouri, New Mexico and Utah.

SDSU is playing in the John Burns Intercollegiate for the third straight year since taking fourth in the 2008 event. The 2008 John Burns Intercollegiate was the seventh straight year San Diego State played in the tournament. Back then, the tournament was played in Leilehua. San Diego State has had a history of success in the tournament, capturing the team championship in 2002 and finishing second in 2003. Two Aztecs have also grabbed the individual spotlight with John Lieber and Lars Johansson each taking home medalist honors in 2002 and 2003, respectively. In 2023, SDSU came in fifth at 24-under 840 before taking 12th last year at +8. Current San Diego State players Lague (9th, -11), Hastings (T-14th, -9) and Chokprajakchat (T-45th, -2) competed in the 2023 event. At last year’s event, Hastings tied for fifth at -6, while Kowack (T-36th, +2), Chokprajakchat (T-58th, +6), Lague (T-75th, +9) and Jackson Moss (San Diego/Point Loma HS) (T-93rd, +13) also were in the field.

Past individual winners of the John Burns Intercollegiate include notable golfers Steve Pate (1983), Notah Begay (1995), Tiger Woods (1996), Bo Van Pelt (1997), Ryan Moore (2005), Shotaro Ban (2015), Beau Hossler (2016) and Sam Bennett (2023). Oklahoma State has a won record six Burns titles while California captured five straight titles from 2011-15.

In its 48th year, the John A. Burns Intercollegiate is considered the University of Hawai’i’s premiere golf tournament. The tournament was held primarily at Kane’ohe Klipper Golf Course before moving to Leilehua Golf Course in 2000 for an 11-year run. The tournament then moved to Turtle Bay Resort from 2011-13 and then to Wailua Golf Course on Kaua‘i in 2014 for the next seven years. The tournament remained on Kaua‘i, relocating to Ocean Course Hokuala.

The tournament is named after former governor of the state of Hawai’i, John A. Burns, who took part in initiating statehood in 1959 and had a hand in upgrading UH’s athletics program. Shortly after his death, his namesake tournament was founded. This tournament reflects back to Burns, the political power who was really a “sportsman at heart.”

Following the John Burns Intercollegiate, San Diego State plays in the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas from March 2-4 before hosting its lone home tournament, the San Diego Lamkin Invitational, March 10-11, at San Diego Country Club in nearby Chula Vista, California.