Sept. 20, 2010
SDSU Tournament Notes in PDF Format
Aztec Men's Golf Kicks Off 2010-11 In Washington
The San Diego State men's golf team kicks off its season on Monday at the two-day Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational in Auburn, Wash. The Aztecs will be among an elite field of 14 schools at the par-72, 7,304-yard Washington National Course in Auburn, Wash. The tournament is being hosted by the University of Washington.
Headlining SDSU's list of opponents this week is preseason No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Washington, and No. 9 Texas A&M. The Aztecs will also face off against their first MWC conference foe of the year in BYU.
SDSU will play two rounds on Monday starting with tee times at 9 a.m. PT. The final 18 holes will commence as early as 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Live stats are available at www.golfstat.com.
Aztec Line-Up For This Week
Head coach Ryan Donovan returns four of the five golfers who competed for the Aztecs at last year's NCAA regional, including all-conference honoree junior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) and the team's lone senior, Johan Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden).
Spaun and Carlsson will be among the five SDSU golfers competing this week and will be joined by junior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), sophomore Tom Berry (New Haw, England) and freshman Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand).
Flashback: SDSU At The Husky Invitational
San Diego State will play at the Husky Invitational for the second time in the last three years and the sixth occasion since 2000. The event was not held last season.
Two years ago, the Aztecs recorded a third-place finish behind second-place California and first-place Washington. The Aztecs posted a 15-over 879, and were led by then sophomore Johan Carlsson, who finished second in the individual standings, only three strokes behind tournament winner Chris Killmer. Carlsson was one of only two players who finished under par, shooting a 2-under 214, including a first-round 68, which was a single-round tournament best.
San Diego State's Andrew Cooley finished one spot behind Carlsson in a tie for 3rd-place. Aztec golfers J.J. Spaun (14th) and Matt Hoffenberg (20th) combined with Carlsson and Cooley to give the Aztecs four top-20 finishers in the 2008 edition.
Preseason Rankings
San Diego State, which ended 2009-10 season ranked 28th nationally by golfstat.com, was one of only two MWC schools to receive votes in the Golf World/Nike Preseason Coaches Poll, released in early September. TCU was ranked No. 23, while the Aztecs received the 38th-most votes.
2009-10 Review: Aztecs Earn 12th Straight NCAA Bid
The San Diego State men's golf team posted seven top-five finishes, including two victories and three runner-up performances, en route to its 12th consecutive and 15th overall NCAA regional appearance. The Aztecs ended the season ranked 28th nationally by golfstat.com and finished as the MWC tournament runner-up for the second year in a row.
Individually, three players recorded tournament victories. Alex Kang and Andrew Cooley tied for first at the Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational in November and J.J. Spaun won the Thunderbird Invitational. Aztec golfers recorded two additional individual runner-up performances and three third-place efforts.
Spaun received MWC player-of-the-month honors in April 2010, and was later named all-conference, making him the 10th Aztec to earn the distinction in the league's 11-year history.
Up Next
After this week's season-opening tournament in Washington, the Aztecs play two other fall events before taking almost four months off and gearing up for spring. First, SDSU will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. on Oct. 1-2, to play in the William H. Tucker Invitational, the second-oldest men's college tournament in the country
The squad will then travel back to California to finish up their fall schedule at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational on Oct. 18-19, a tournament that senior Johann Carlsson finished second at a year ago. The spring season won't get underway until the end of January in Arizona.
Head Coach Ryan Donovan
Head coach Ryan Donovan is in his eighth season at the helm of the SDSU golf program after serving as an assistant in 2003. A native of Yorba Linda, Calif., Donovan was a four-year member of the Aztec golf squad, before graduating in 2001.