SAN DIEGO -- In its final tune-up before attempting to win its unprecedented fifth consecutive Mountain West championship, the San Diego State men’s golf team heads to the 79th 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.
Last season, the Aztecs captured the Western Intercollegiate for the first time since 1960. SDSU was one of only two teams in the 14-team tournament to shoot under-par, finishing at 6-under-par 1,044, five shots clear of Stanford (-1). San Diego State had four players shoot under-par, led by Chanachon Chokprajakchat, who finished in a tie for ninth place out of 91 golfers at 3-under 207. Three other Aztecs were a shot back in an eight-way tie for 11th at -1, including Tyler Kowack, current Korn Ferry professional Justin Hastings and Harry Takis. Nathan Sampson matched medalist Filip Jakubcik of Arizona with the lowest third round, firing a 4-under 66, to vault 33 spots into a tie for 30th at +4, while Dylan Oyama tied for 66th at 12-over 22.
SDSU, which is 35th in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd computer rankings, are one of 15 teams in the field. Other top-50 teams include No. 13 Pepperdine, No. 18 Stanford, No. 22 Arizona, No. 24 Brigham Young, No. 30 USC, No. 39 Washington and No. 50 UNLV. Also in the field are California, Chattanooga, Hawai‘I, Nihon Univ. (Japan), Oregon, 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 13th-place finish out of 30 teams at The Goodwin, March 26-28, in Stanford, California.
The Western Intercollegiate is a six-count-five event, as opposed to the usual five-count-four event. Head coach Ryan Donovan is going with the lineup of sophomore Harry Takis (Brisbane Australia), freshman Beau Sahr (Eagle, Idaho), senior Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand), junior Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS), senior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy) and junior Phillip Kench (Del Mar, Calif./La Jolla HS).
For the season, Takis leads the team with a 69.76 scoring average through 21 rounds, which would be an Aztec single-season record if he had enough rounds (27) to qualify. Takis also currently owns the SDSU career scoring record of 70.66 (min. 50 rounds since at least 1993-94). Junior Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif.) ranks second on the team at 72.81, followed by Chokprajakchat (72.96), Kowack (73.54) and junior Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) (74.31). Kench and Sahr are each averaging 74.67, and Oyama is at 75.83.
Entering its 79th 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 15th consecutive appearance, but just its 16th since 2001.
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 first 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). Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik has won each of the past individual titles at the event and will look to make it three straight this year.
The Western Intercollegiate is SDSU’s final event before the Mountain West Championship, set for May 3-5 at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona.
Aztecs Set to Defend Western Intercollegiate Title
Aztecs won last year's event at 6-under par.
