April 8, 2011
SDSU Men's Golf Tournament Notes in PDF Format
The San Diego State men's golf squad, which has risen to fourth in the national rankings, resumes action after having more than two weeks off when it travels to the 39th annual Thunderbird Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., April 9-10. The Aztecs are competing in the 54-hole event for the sixth consecutive season and for the eighth time in the last nine years at the par-71, 7,057-yard Karsten Golf Course.
SDSU is the highest ranked school in the 13-team field, but will face tough competition from the likes of six opponents rated among the top 50 nationally, including No. 16 Cal, No. 21 and host Arizona State, No. 23 USC, No. 40 Pepperdine, No. 42 UNLV and No. 49 Florida State. Fellow Mountain West Conference member No. 64 Colorado State will also participate along with No. 54 Northwestern, No. 75 San Jose State, No. 83 Washington State, No. 84 UC Irvine and No. 107 Cal State Northridge.
Live stats for both days of the Thunderbird Invitational will be available on golfstat.com, as well as SDSU's official website, goaztecs.com. The Aztecs are paired with UNLV and Pepperdine for Saturday's first two rounds and will tee off from the first hole at 8:30 a.m. local time. The final 18 holes will be played on Sunday, April 10.
Aztec Line-Up For This Week
San Diego State junior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) returns to defend his individual title, which he won last year on the first playoff hole over Washington's Chris Williams. He will be joined in the Aztec starting five by senior Johan Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden), junior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), sophomore Tom Berry (New Haw, England) and freshman Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand). Head coach Ryan Donovan will also bring junior Colin Featherstone (Fallbrook, Calif.) to compete as an individual.
SDSU is participating in its' first five-man event since winning the USC Collegiate Invite, Feb. 28-March 1.
Flashback: SDSU & The Thunderbird Invitational
SDSU is making its sixth-straight appearance at the ASU Thunderbird Invite and eighth in the last nine years. During that span, the team's best finish came in 2009, when it tied for second place. The Aztecs posted the exact same team score a year ago with a 4-over 856, but came in eighth place along with both Arizona State and UNLV.
Washington claimed the team title with a 13-under 839 at the 38th annual edition, but is not in the tournament field this season.
In The National Rankings
San Diego State moved up to fourth nationally in the latest golfstat.com rankings released this past Wednesday. With five tournament victories in 2010-11, including four in six spring events, the Aztecs are tied for second nationally with Alabama, trailing only No. 1 Oklahoma State which has claimed six titles.
SDSU has also been rated ninth in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin (as of April 3) and is seventh in the Golf World/NIKE Golf Division I Coaches' Poll, which was released on April 6.
Spaun Wins Second Consecutive MWC Award
For the second consecutive time, junior J.J. Spaun was named the Mountain West Conference Men's Golfer of the Month, the league office announced March 30. Spaun, who was also honored with the same award in February, helped the team to a pair of tournament titles, elevating the Aztecs from eighth to the No. 4 spot in the national rankings.
Spaun recorded a pair of top-three performances in SDSU's three March events, logging two sub-70 rounds and was even-par or better in seven of his nine rounds, ending with five straight.
The award is the third of Spaun's career and marks the third consecutive time an Aztec has been honored by the conference this season.
Rewind: SDSU Comes Back To Win At Barona
A 10-stroke deficit heading into the final 18 holes proved little more than just motivation for the San Diego State men's golf team, as the Aztecs posted a final-round 3-under 357 to defeat day-one leader University of San Diego by seven strokes to win the annual Barona Collegiate Cup, March 24-25.
SDSU, which claimed its fifth title in nine tournaments this season, was the only squad in the 16-school field to end the event under par with a 54-hole total of 1-under 1,079 at the par-72, 7,324-yard Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, Calif.
The Aztecs, who also won last year's Barona Collegiate Cup by knocking off No. 1 Oregon, had four players finish in the top 10 and boasted three of the six golfers in the 100-player field to round out the event under par. Junior J.J. Spaun tied for second place, just one stroke in back of medalist Glen Scher of UC Santa Barbara, sophomore Tom Berry took sixth and junior Alex Kang ended up in eighth. Senior Johan Carlsson (17th) and freshman Todd Baek (22nd) also were in the top 25, while junior Colin Featherstone (69th) and redshirt sophomore Evan Emerick (89th), who was competing as an individual, rounded out the winning SDSU contingent.
Up Next
The men's golf team has one more tournament to play, the Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz next week, before taking 18 days off to prepare for the 2011 Mountain West Conference championships in Tucson, Ariz., May 5-7.
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., he was a four-year member of the Aztec golf squad, before graduating in 2001.
Donovan recently signed a new three-year contract, which will keep him at his alma mater at least until 2012-13.