Nov. 1, 2009
Both the San Diego State men's and women's golf teams will conclude their 2009 fall schedules this coming week in Kahuku, Hawaii, for the three-day, 54-hole Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational, Nov. 2-4, at the Arnold Palmer and George Fazio Courses on O'ahu. This is the first time the annual event, which enters its ninth season, will include a women's field. In 2008, the Aztec men finished as team runners-up, trailing Texas by just three strokes.
The men and women will play on both courses over the three days. The men start out on the par-72, 7,218-yard Palmer Course the first two rounds and then head to the par-72, 6,535-yard Fazio Course for the final 18 holes. The women, meanwhile, will do the reverse, playing the first 36 holes on the par-72, 6,261-yard Fazio Course, before completing the event on the par-72, 6,361-yard Palmer Course.
The SDSU women's squad, under the direction of first-year head coach Emilee Klein, have ascended to 56th nationally according to golfstat.com and are rated 57th by Golfweek/Sagarin. The Aztecs were third at their most recent event, the 18-team Price's Give `Em Five Invitational, in Las Cruces, N.M., Oct. 12-14.
Klein will bring five golfers to Hawaii, including freshman Christine Wong (Richmond, B.C.), who is coming off medalist honors at the Price's Give `Em Five Invite, which propelled her to a No. 35 national ranking by golfstat.com. Wong will be joined by fellow freshman Gina Clark (Murrieta, Calif.), sophomore Malin Enarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) and juniors Samantha Roberts (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Stephanie Arcala (Oceanside, Calif.).
The women's contingent will have some of the top competition in the nation within the 18-team field, highlighted by top-ranked UCLA, No. 9 USC, No. 15 California and No. 35 Tulsa.
The San Diego State men's team will be among a field of 11 squads, including one from Canada and another from Japan. Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan, who is in his sixth year at the helm of his alma mater, has SDSU ranked 29th nationally according to golfstat.com and 31st in Golfweek/Sagarin's latest poll. Donovan's group has been out of action for the last three weeks after placing sixth at the rain-shortened Alister Mackenzie Invitational in northern California, Oct. 12.
Junior Johan Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden), who missed out sharing the individual title at the Alister MacKeznie Invite by one stroke, will be one of the five Aztec men's golfers to make the trip and one of three to travel to Hawaii for the second year in a row. Carlsson is currently ranked 35th nationally by Golfweek/Sagarin and ended the 2008 Turtle Bay Invitational in a tie for third place, just four strokes off the lead.
Sophomores Andrew Cooley (New Haw, England), who tied for 14th in 2008, Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), Tyler Morris (Encinitas, Calif.) and Tom Berry (New Haw, England) will also make the journey across the Pacific.
Tee times will range from approximately 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. HT all three days for both the men's and women's fields. Live stats will be provided on goaztecs.com, as well as golfstat.com.