Aug. 9, 2011
SAN DIEGO - Three San Diego State men's golfers have earned their way into this year's field at the U.S. Amateur Championship, slated for Aug. 22-28, at Erin Hills and Blue Mound Golf and Country Club in Erin, Wis. Senior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) and sophomore Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand) both garnered exemptions as a result of being in the top 50 in the World Amateur Golf rankings, while redshirt junior Evan Emerick (Oceanside, Calif.) qualified for the event on July 25 at Red Hill Country Club.
Spaun is currently rated 17th in the latest World Amateur Golf rankings released July 31. So far this summer, he has already advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Oregon and tied for 20th at the Sunnehanna Amateur in Pennsylvania. Spaun was a third-team All-American as a junior at San Diego State this past season, finishing third at the NCAA national championships and winning the Thunderbird Invitational for the second year in a row.
A freshman All-American in 2010-11, Baek is the 39th-ranked amateur golfer in the world. He joined Spaun in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last month and tied for 10th at the NCAA championships. Baek, who attended Rancho Bernardo High School, had a stroke average of 72.26 during his freshman campaign and logged seven total top-10 finishes.
A Carlsbad High graduate, Emerick has played in seven events for the Aztecs over the last two seasons after redshirting as a true freshman in 2008-09. Emerick notched a 36-hole score of 146 at the sectional in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., beating out Joey Davis by one stroke for the third and final qualifying spot.
SDSU senior Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) is an alternate for the 2011 U.S. Am after coming up just short at the sectional qualifier at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, Calif., July 18. Kang finished the two rounds with a 141 to tie both Joseph Harrison and Alex Shi Yup Kim, but ended up being the odd man out in a playoff.
The 2011 U.S. Amateur will be played at both the 7,760-yard, par-72 Erin Hills course and the 6,622-yard, par-70 Blue Mound Golf and Country Club. Erin Hills is the longest course in the event's 116-year history and this is the first time the state of Wisconsin has played host to the country's oldest golf championship.
This year's field features 312 golfers competing in 36 holes of stroke play over the first two days. After the second round, the low 64 scorers advance to match play. On Sunday, Aug. 28, the remaining two golfers will compete in 36 holes of match play to determine this year's U.S. Amateur champion.
San Diego State, under ninth-year head coach Ryan Donovan, returns six letterwinners from last year's record-breaking squad that won seven tournament titles, including the program's first Mountain West and NCAA regional championships.