SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men’s golf team returns to action this weekend when it travels to the Bay Area to play in The Goodwin, hosted by Stanford on the par-70, 6,742-yard Stanford Golf Course.
The Aztecs, who are 33rd in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd computer rankings, are one of 30 teams competing in the 54-hole event, which will take place over three days, beginning with the opening 18 on Thursday. Others in the top 50 of the rankings include No. 18 Georgia Tech, No. 21 New Mexico, No. 23 Stanford, No. 24 Brigham Young, No. 30 Utah, No. 31 Long Beach State, No. 35 UCLA, No. 36 TCU, No. 39 Washington, No. 41 Northwestern, No. 44 Colorado and No. 50 Little Rock. Also making the trek to The Farm are Boise State, Cal Poly, California, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Eastern Michigan, Hawaii-Hilo, Grand Canyon, Howard, Nevada, Oregon, Pacific, SMU, Santa Clara, San Jose State, UC Davis and Washington State.
SDSU will play along with Brigham Young, Long Beach State and UCLA for the first two days, teeing off from the first hole at 1 p.m. PT Thursday and then off the 10th hole for the second round at 8:05 a.m. PT Friday. Saturday’s final round will be based on scoring from the first two rounds and will start at 7 a.m. PT with the leaders starting at 8 a.m. PT.
Teeing up for San Diego State under head coach Ryan Donovan are sophomore Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia), the No. 4-ranked player in the latest computer ratings, sophomore Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif.), senior Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand), junior Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) and freshman Beau Sahr (Eagle, Idaho).
Takis leads the Aztecs with a 69.94 scoring average through 18 rounds. He has a victory, two runner-ups, a seventh, a 16th and a 22nd for his six events this season. Hirayama ranks second on the team with a 72.83 average through 24 rounds, followed by Chokprajakchat (72.88), senior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy) (73.54) and Sampson (74.23). Sahr has started in each of the last two tournaments for SDSU and is averaging 75.83 through 12 rounds on the season.
This year is the 57th edition of The Goodwin. Formerly named the U.S. Collegiate Invitational, The Goodwin was renamed in 2014 in honor of legendary head coach Wally Goodwin, whose tenure on The Farm lasted from 1987-2000. Goodwin led Stanford to the 1994 NCAA title, its first since 1953, while finishing second in 1995. A two-time National Coach of the Year, Goodwin helped revive a struggling Stanford program and returned it to national prominence by recruiting Tiger Woods, Notah Begay III, Casey Martin, Joel Kribel, and Conrad Ray, among many other notables.
Stanford has won the event a record 16 times (1968, 1970-75, 1980, 1983, 1989, 1995, 2007, 2013-14, 2017, 2019). The Goodwin is back for at Stanford Golf Course for a second straight year after a two-year stint at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Located in the foothills above the Stanford University Campus, the Stanford Golf Course is consistently rated one of the finest courses in the world. Throughout the years, Stanford has hosted many intercollegiate and non-collegiate events, including U.S. Open Qualifying, Women's NCAA Championships, NCAA Regionals, Pac-12 Championships and the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying.
San Diego State last competed in The Goodwin back in 2024, tying for 14th out of 30 teams at 22-over-par 862. Both Kowack (T-19th, +1) and Chokprajakchat (T-68th, +8) competed in that event for the Aztecs. Prior to the 2024 edition, the Aztecs last played in the event in 2014, taking 16th out of 18 teams on a SDSU squad that started Xander Schauffele (T-65th, +11), Austin Kaiser (T-85th, +17) - Schauffele’s caddie on the PGA Tour - and 2014 U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang.
San Diego State captured consecutive team titles in the event in 1977 and 1978, while Gary Simoni (1977), Lenny Clements (1979), Mark Warman (2003) and Aaron Goldberg (2004) each have earned medalist honors for the Scarlet and Black.
UCLA won the team title last year at -11 with five players tied atop the individual leaderboard at -5.
Next up for the Aztecs will be the Western Intercollegiate, April 13-15, at Pasatiempo G.C. in Santa Cruz, California.
SDSU Set to Compete at The Goodwin
Three-day event to take place at Stanford Golf Course, beginning on Thursday.
