SAN DIEGO -- The 25th-ranked San Diego State men’s golf team kicks off the 2025-26 season this weekend when it travels to Sammamish, Washington, for the Sahalee Players Championship, Sept. 6-7, at Sahalee Country Club .
The 54-hole event will be contested over two days with two rounds slated for Saturday and the final round set Sunday on the par-72, 7,003-yard layout.
The Aztecs enter the fall season ranked 25th in the preseason Bushnell/Golfweek DI Collegiate Poll. SDSU will joined in the 12-team field by No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Arizona State, No. 15 North Carolina, No. 19 Pepperdine, No. 22 Arizona and No. 24 UCLA, along with host Washington, Northwestern, Oregon and the USGA Junior National Team.
San Diego State is scheduled to tee off at 7:03 a.m. PT from the 10th tee along with Florida and Pepperdine. Sunday’s round will also go off with split tees beginning at 7 a.m. PT, based on scores from the first two rounds.
SDSU returns four of its five starters from last season’s squad that won its fourth consecutive Mountain West championship and finished seventh at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, two spots from advancing to the NCAA Championship. Three of the four returning starters made the 10-man all-MW team last year, including seniors Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) and Tyler Kowack Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), and the 2024 MW Freshman of the Year Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia).
Now in his 23rd season at the helm of the Aztecs, head coach Ryan Donovan has penciled in the lineup of Takis, Choprajakchat, Kowack, junior Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) and sophomore Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif./California). SDSU will also have an player competing as an individual, which will be announced soon.
Takis is coming off an excellent first season on The Mesa, where he was the MW Freshman of the Year and made the all-MW team, ranking second on the team with a 71.16 scoring average across 32 rounds. That was the 10th-lowest scoring average in recorded SDSU single-season history (since 1993-94).
Choprajakchat also had a breakthrough season, making the PING All-West Region team and the all-MW team, each of the first time. He played in all 12 tournaments last season, ranking third on the team with a 71.24 stroke average.
Kowack made the all-MW team for a second straight season last year, ranking fourth on the team with a 71.86 as the only Aztec to start and play all 36 rounds a season ago.
Sampson averaged a 73.25 in his first season regularly competing on the team’s starting five, while Hirayama averaged 72.58 in four tournaments last season while playing at Cal.
The Scarlet & Black will be competing at the Sahalee Players Championship for the first time.
Inaugurated in 1992, the Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) was created to bring the best male amateur golfers in the world to compete at Sahalee on an annual basis. Between 1992 and 2019, Sahalee hosted the SPC on 26 occasions as an independently run elite amateur tournament. The fields of players were amazing, crowning many elite champions, including Sahith Theegala, Nick Taylor, Ryan Moore and Jason Gore. In addition, Sahalee’s fairways were graced by some of today’s top players, such as: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Kurt Kitayama, Ryan Fox, and Min Woo Lee.
In 1996 noted golf course architect Rees Jones oversaw the redesign and renovations of the bunkers and many key features of the North and South courses. Similar work was completed on the East course after the 1998 PGA Championship. With the success of the 1998 PGA Championship, support from the community and the state, and the tremendous praise from the players and the PGA, Sahalee has begun a new chapter in an increasingly rich golf tradition. Sahalee has hosted the NEC World Golf Championship in 2002, the USGA Senior Open in 2010, and hosted the 2016 and 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championships. The intention of its founders to create a championship-caliber course and reputation has been realized. Sahalee has been elevated to greatness as the high heavenly ground of Northwest golf.
Following the Sahalee Players, the Aztecs will head to the Wohali Classic, Sept. 15-16, in Coalville, Utah, near Salt Lake City.