COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- San Diego State sophomore Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia) has been named the Mountain West Men’s Golfer of the Year, the league announced on Friday.
Takis is the second straight Aztec to be named the MW Golfer of the Year (Justin Hastings in 2025) and the eighth in league history. He’s just the third underclassmen to earn the MW Golfer-of-the-Year Award, joining SDSU’s Lars Johansson in 2001 and UNLV’s Derek Ernst in 2010 (all three were sophomores).
Takis, the MW Freshman of the Year in 2025, also made the 11-man all-MW team, along with Aztec senior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy). The major awards and all-conference team are voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches.
Takis has had arguably the best season in San Diego State history and enters next week’s NCAA Regionals as the fourth-ranked player in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd computer ratings, released Wednesday. He is averaging 69.22 strokes per round across nine tournaments and 27 rounds in 2025-26. The 69.22 is an Aztec single-season record now that he has enough rounds to qualify (27), more than a stroke ahead of No. 2 (Shea Lague’s 70.30 set in the 2022-23 season). Out of his nine tournaments this season, he has one victory, two runner-up finishes, five top-5 efforts, six top-10 showings and eight top-20 placings.
Last week, Takis was named to the international team for the Arnold Palmer Cup in July. He’s also one of 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award and one of 15 on the postseason watch list for the Haskins Award. With enough rounds to quality (50), Takis has the lowest scoring average in SDSU’s recorded history (since 1993-94) at 70.34 in 62 rounds, almost a stroke ahead of Hastings (71.17) in second and more than a stroke ahead of two-time professional major winner Xander Schauffele (71.50) in third.
Kowack, meanwhile, is coming off a runner-up finish at last week’s Mountain West Championship at 16-under 200 (Takis was third at -13). Kowack ranks second on the team with a 72.67 stroke average. In addition to last week’s runner-up finish, he won the Marquette Intercollegiate in the fall (Oct. 5-7) at 2-under 214. Kowack landed on the all-conference team for a third straight season, tied with Hastings (2023-25), Nahum Mendoza III (2015-17), Schauffele (2013-15), J.J. Spaun (2010-12) and Aaron Goldberg (2006-08), and only trailing Puwit Anupansuebsai’s four selections from 2019-22.
The Aztecs earned the No. 7 seed in the 2026 Marana Regional in the Tucson, Arizona area, which is set for May 18-20 at Gallery Golf Club. The top-five squads and lowest individual not on those teams from the Marana Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships, slated for May 29-June 3, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in nearby Carlsbad, California, hosted by Texas.
2026 All-Mountain West Men’s Golf Honors
Mountain West Men’s Golfer of the Year
Harry Takis, So., San Diego State
Mountain West Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year
Thayer Plewe, New Mexico
Mountain West Men’s Golf Coach of the Year
Jean-Paul Hebert, UNLV
All-Mountain West Men’s Golf Team
Cole Rueck, Sr., Boise State
Emil Albers, Fr., New Mexico
Johnnie Clark, Jr., New Mexico
Mesa Falleur, Sr., New Mexico
Thayer Plewe, Fr., New Mexico
Tyler Kowack, Sr., San Diego State
Harry Takis, So., San Diego State
Avinash Iyer, Sr., San José State
Keshav “KC” Mungali, Jr., San José State
Zach Little, Jr., UNLV
Trevor Lewis, Sr., UNLV
Harry Takis Named Mountain West Golfer of the Year
Takis becomes the second straight Aztec to win the award and eighth in league history.
