Aztecs Set for Mountain West Championship

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men’s golf team will look to capture its league-record fifth consecutive Mountain West title this weekend when it travels to compete in the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Golf Championship, May 3-5, in Tucson, Arizona.

The 12-team field will complete 18 holes on each of the three days on the par-72, 7,194-yard Omni Tucson National Resort, Catalina Course, following a practice round on Saturday.

The four-time defending champion Aztecs earned the No. 2 seed and are slated to tee off with top-seeded New Mexico and No. 3 UNLV in the first group on Sunday, starting at 7 a.m. PT, while the pairings for the final two rounds will be based on team standings. A live scoring link courtesy of Scoreboard powered by clippd will be available on GoAztecs.com.

SDSU enters its final Mountain West tournament before leaving for the Pac-12 ranked 39th in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd team computer ratings (April 27). New Mexico tops the field at No. 18, followed by No. 39 San Diego State, No. 42 UNLV, No. 85 San Jose State, No. 91 Grand Canyon, No. 108 Nevada, No. 128 Boise State, No. 142 Colorado State, No. 158 Fresno State, No. 169 Wyoming, No. 216 Utah State and No. 261 Air Force.

In head-to-head competition against the league this season, the Aztecs are 15-8, including 3-0 vs. Colorado State, 2-0 against both Fresno State and Grand Canyon, 1-0 vs. Boise State and Wyoming, 2-1 vs. San Jose State, 2-2 against UNLV, 1-1 vs. Nevada and 1-4 against New Mexico. This will be SDSU’s first head-to-head event vs. Air Force and Utah State.

San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan has gone with the lineup of sophomore Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia), sophomore Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif.), senior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), senior Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) and redshirt junior Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS), who won the MW Championship in 2023 as a true freshman. Junior Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) is an alternate for the Aztecs this weekend.

Takis is having arguably the best season in program history. The Ben Hogan Award Semifinalist is the fourth-ranked player in the country and is averaging 69.42 strokes per round across eight tournaments and 24 rounds in 2025-26. The 69.42 would be a SDSU single-season record if he had enough rounds to qualify (27). Out of his eight tournaments this season, he has one victory, two runner-up finishes, four top-5 efforts, five top-10 showings and six top-20 placings. Just yesterday, Takis finished tied for third at the Western Intercollegiate. With enough rounds to qualify (50), Takis has the lowest scoring average in San Diego State’s recorded history (since 1993-94) at 70.47 in 59 rounds.

Hirayama ranks second on the team at 72.81, followed by Chokprajakchat (72.93), Kowack (73.33), Sampson, freshman Beu Sahr (Eagle, Idaho) (74.56), junior Phillip Kench (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) (75.33) and Oyama (75.53).

Takis came in second at last year’s championship in Oregon at 14-under 202 en route to being named the MW Freshman of the Year. Kowack has three MW appearances (T-27th in 2023, T-36th in 2024 and eighth in 2025) and Chokprajakchat finished one (T-13th in 2024) and played in the first two rounds last year where he was at 7-under par before Oyama shot a 1-under 71 in the final round. Sampson tied for fourth at last year's championship at 11-under 205 with rounds of 68, 68 and 69. Hirayama, a California transfer, will be playing in their first MW tournament.

In the 26-year history of the MW (not counting the 2020 cancellation due to COVID), SDSU has won seven team championships, capturing back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, followed by a thrilling victory in 2015 and each of the last four years (2022-25). Last season, San Diego State (-54) beat runner-up UNLV (-31) by 23 strokes.

The Aztecs, who are looking to become the first program to win five straight MW Championships, also tied for the top spot in 2009 but lost in a team playoff to TCU after rallying from a five-stroke deficit in regulation. What’s remarkable is SDSU has won its four straight MW Championships at three different courses (2022 at Gold Mountain G.C. in Bremerton, Washington; 2023 at Omni Tucson National G.C. in Tucson, Arizona; 2024 and 2025 at Emerald Valley G.C. in Creswell, Oregon).

At the last MW Championship held in Arizona in 2023, San Diego State shattered the tournament record with a 60-under 804, 25 strokes ahead of runner-up New Mexico (-35). Oyama, meanwhile, blitzed the Catalina Course with a 10-under 62 in the final round, the lowest score in MW Championship history, and finished at 19-under 197, tying with Colorado State's Christoph Bleier for the 54-hole MW Championship record before beating Bleier on the first playoff hole with a par.

In addition, the Aztecs have finished second seven times (2001, 2003, 2006, 2009-10, 2013-14), third once (2021), placed fourth on five occasions (2002, 2004-05, 2016-17), came in fifth in three tournaments (2000, 2007, 2019), and ended up in the seventh (2008) and eighth (2018) positions once each.

SDSU has had four individual winners, including John Lepak in 2001 at Sunriver Resort in Oregon, Puwit Anupansuebsai in 2021 in Arizona, Oyama in 2023 in Arizona and Justin Hastings at last year’s event in Oregon.  The Aztecs also have playoff losses by Adam Porzak in 2007 and Riccardo Michelini in 2014, and other top-3 finishes by Xander Schauffele (2nd, 2015), Nahum Mandoza III (T-3rd, 2016), Gunn Yang (T-3rd, 2017), and in 2022 as Yousseff Guezzale and Zihao Jin tied for third at 8-under. SDSU, which has routinely fared well on the individual leaderboard at the MW tournament, has a top-4 finisher in 17 of the last 19 MW championships.

The OMNI Tucson National Golf Club is designed by Robert Van Hagge and Bruce Devlin with the Catalina Course being known for its magnificent views, traditional parkland-style layout and tree-lined fairways. Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the course also includes eight sparkling lakes and 80 bunkers, while the 18th hole is considered to be one of the finest and most challenging finishing holes on the PGA Tour. Home to over 30 PGA events, including the prestigious Chrysler Classic of Tucson from 1997-2006, as well as several NCAA tournaments, the Tucson National has been selected as one of Golf Digest magazine's "75 Best Golf Resorts in North America."

New Mexico has won a league-record eight MW crowns, followed by San Diego State (7), UNLV (5), Colorado State (2), former conference member Brigham Young (2) and former member TCU (1).

Additionally, eight different schools have had a player win the individual title, including SDSU (2001, 2021, 2023, 2025), UNLV (2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018), New Mexico (2003, 2006, 2009, 2014, 2019), Colorado State (2002, 2010, 2022), Boise State (2017, 2024), Fresno State (2016), TCU (2007, 2012) and Brigham Young (2005).