Aztecs Ready for NCAA Marana Regional

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men’s golf team continues postseason play Monday at the NCAA Marana Regional in the Tucson, Arizona area. The Aztecs, who are making their 26th regional appearance in the last 27 tournaments, will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, slated for May 29-June 3, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in nearby Carlsbad, California, hosted by Texas.

SDSU earned the No. 7 seed out of 14 teams in the Marana Regional. San Diego State received an at-large bid into the regional after not winning the Mountain West Championship last week, snapping a league-tying record four straight conference titles from 2022-25. The Aztecs finished third in the 12-team event at 35-under-par.

Marana, Arizona (Arizona) is one of six regional tournaments that will also be played concurrently in Athens, Georgia (Georgia), Bermuda Run, North Carolina (Wake Forest), Bryan, Texas (Texas A&M), Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State) and Corvallis, Oregon (Oregon State).

SDSU is ranked 41st in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd computer ratings, released May 17. Joining San Diego State on the par-72, 7,317-yard The Gallery Golf Club will be seven others in the top 50, including No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 8 LSU, No. 18 Arizona, No. 20 Alabama, No. 29 Duke, No. 33 Clemson and No. 44 Arkansas State. Others in the field include West Virginia (55), Florida Gulf Coast (57), St. Mary’s (67), Tarleton State (110), North Dakota State (177) and Iona (216). The top-five squads and lowest individual not on those teams from the Marana Regional will advance to Carlsbad.

Teams will complete 18 holes (54 total) of stroke play each of the three days following a practice round on Sunday. SDSU is paired with Arkansas State and West Virginia for Monday’s first round and Tuesday’s second round with Monday’s round set to start at 7:55 a.m. PT from the first hole. Wednesday’s final round will be determined by team finishes from the first two days.

Live hole-by-hole results courtesy of Scoreboard powered by clippd will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com. There will also be a live stream available on GoAztecs.com.

San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan has gone with the lineup of sophomore Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia), senior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), sophomore Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif.), junior Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.) and freshman Beau Sahr (Eagle, Idaho). Redshirt junior Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS) will serve as an alternate.

Out of SDSU’s starting five, Kowack has the most experience, playing in each of the last three. He shot a 78 in the first round as a freshman in Salem, South Carolina, then tied for 14th as a sophomore in West Lafayette, Indiana, before tying for 19th last year in Tallahassee, Florida. Oyama, meanwhile, tied for 39th as a freshman in Salem in 2023 and played the first round last year in Tallahassee, shooting an 81. Both Takis (T-19th) and Sampson (56th) played in their first regional last season in Tallahassee. Hirayama and Sahr will be making their regional debuts this season.

Takis has had arguably the best season in San Diego State history and enters the NCAA Regionals as the fourth-ranked player in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd computer ratings. Takis has been named the Mountain West Golfer of the Year, one of 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award, one of 15 on the postseason watch list for the Haskins Award and to the international team for the Arnold Palmer Cup in July.

Takis 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.

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, who joined Takis on the all-MW team, 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 the runner-up finish, he won the Marquette Intercollegiate in the fall (Oct. 5-7) at 2-under 214.

Hirayama ranks third on the team with a 72.87 scoring average, followed by Chanachon Chokprajakchat (72.93), Sampson (73.84), Sahr (74.56) and Oyama (74.89).

Since the NCAA regional format was adopted in 1989, San Diego State has received a bid on 29 occasions, including a streak of 20 straight from 1999 to 2018.

Last year in Tallahassee, San Diego State finished two spots out of qualifying for the national championship at 3-over-par, six strokes behind Augusta (-3) for the final bid to Carlsbad.

The Aztecs have advanced through regional competition into the national championship series on nine occasions, highlighted by a team title at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club in 2011, where the Scarlet and Black posted the program's lowest combined score in regional play with a 19-under 833 en route to a seven-stroke victory.

The following season at Stanford Golf Course in 2012, SDSU turned in a second-place finish, with two-time All-American J.J. Spaun setting three team regional records, including lowest score (12-under 198), lowest round (7-under 63) and best individual finish (2nd).

In 2016, SDSU added one of the most dramatic performances to the program's postseason lore after defeating Texas A&M on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to secure the Albuquerque Regional's fifth and final spot at the NCAA Championships. On the first playoff hole, former U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang holed out for a double-eagle with a 7-iron from 218 yards away, while Ryann Ree made an eagle of his own as San Diego State topped the Aggies by three strokes (-5 to -2) on the par-5, 544-yard No. 1.

In 2021, the Aztecs came in third in Kingston, Tennessee, advancing to Scottsdale where they finished 25th.

SDSU is 1-6 on the season against teams in the NCAA Mirana Regional, including 1-1 against host Arizona, 0-1 vs. Oklahoma State, LSU and Clemson, and 0-2 vs. St. Mary’s.

The Gallery Golf Club features two highly acclaimed championship courses, including the North Course which the regional will be played this week. Keeping your focus is a challenge on these picturesque courses with sweeping views of the high Sonoran desert landscape. The Gallery North Course is ranked #1 in Southern Arizona by Golf Digest and is acknowledged as one of Golfweek's Top 100 Modern Courses.