Sept. 29, 2011
SDSU Men's Golf Tournament Notes
The No. 6/14 San Diego State men's golf team will look to officially open its 2011 fall campaign for the second time this week, as it returns to defend its title at the 57th annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
The first two rounds will be contested Friday, while the final 18 holes take place on Saturday. Both days begin with a shotgun start at 7 a.m. MT at the par-72, 7,248-yard University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course.
The Aztecs had been slated to open their season in Bremerton, Wash., at the Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational, Sept. 26-27, but rain washed away the first day (36 holes) of the event. SDSU was one of 10 teams that decided not to participate in the scheduled 18 holes on Tuesday with the hope of adding another tournament later this year.
Instead, San Diego State will open the campaign at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, where it has competed four times in the last six years and on 10 occasions overall since 2000. A year ago, the Aztecs overcame a seven-stroke deficit with only 18 holes to play to claim the team title, the first of what would be seven first-place finishes for SDSU in 2010-11.
This year's field includes 16, five-man squads. San Diego State will be joined by fellow Mountain West schools Air Force, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming. The Aztecs are the highest ranked squad in the field at 14th, with the only other ranked in the latest coaches' poll being No. 24 Colorado. Arizona, North Texas and UNLV, however, are all receiving votes.
The Tucker Intercollegiate is the second-oldest men's college tournament in the country. Previous individual participants include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw, Johnnie Miller, Cory Pavin, Mike Weir, Colin Montgomery, Fuzzy Zoeller and Jim Furyk. Live results will be available for all three rounds at golfstat.com.
Aztec Line-Up For This Week
Ninth-year head coach Ryan Donovan will bring the same starting five to Albuquerque that he planned on using earlier this week, while also adding redshirt senior Matt Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.) to the mix as an individual.
Hoffenberg, who took last year off, will be joined by fellow seniors J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) and Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.), junior Tom Berry (New Haw, England), sophomore Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand) and freshman Wilson Bateman (Edmonton, Alberta).
Baek, Berry, Kang and Spaun all played in last year's Tucker Intercollegiate.