May 14, 2013
SDSU Tournament Notes | Live Results | Regional Championships Page
SDSU MEN'S GOLF SET FOR PULLMAN REGIONAL
The San Diego State men's golf team travels to the Pacific Northwest this week to compete in the NCAA Pullman Regional, May 16-18, at Washington State University's Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash. The Aztecs, who are making their 15th consecutive and 18th regional appearance overall will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA national championship series, scheduled for May 28-June 2 in Alpharetta, Ga.
SDSU earned the No. 9 seed out of 14 teams in the Pullman Regional, snagging one of 53 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament after tying for the runner-up spot at the Mountain West Championship on May 5. A total of 81 NCAA Division I schools received invitations to play in one of six regional events that will be held concurrently this week in Tempe, Ariz. (Arizona State), Baton Rouge, La. (LSU), Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State), Fayetteville, Ark. (Arkansas) and Tallahassee, Fla. (Florida State).
Joining the Aztecs in the Palouse this week will be 13 other teams, including seven foes ranked in the top 40, along with 10 individual competitors (75 golfers overall). The top five squads and the low individual not on an advancing team will move on to nationals from each of the six regionals.
Teams will play 18 holes (54 total) of stroke play each of the three days with a practice round on Wednesday, May 15. SDSU will be paired with North Texas and Baylor for Thursday's first round, which is set to get underway from the first tee at 8:55 a.m. PT, while Friday's second round starts as early as 8 a.m. The competition then wraps up on Saturday, with final-round action slated to begin at 7:30 a.m.
Live hole-by-hole stats will be available on golfstat.com, as well as goaztecs.com for all three rounds.
AZTEC LINEUP FOR REGIONALS
For the sixth time this season and second tournament in a row, San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan will employ the starting lineup of senior Tom Berry (New Haw, Surrey, England), sophomore Xander Schauffele (San Diego, Calif.), freshman Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy) and juniors James Holley (Chatsworth, Calif.) and Austin Kaiser (Atascadero, Calif.). The combination was also utilized at the MW Championships and comprised five-sixths of the SDSU delegation at the Western Intercollegiate last month.
Berry is lone Aztec with regional experience among the group, tying for 18th out of 75 golfers at last year's tournament, while the four remaining SDSU players, Schauffele, Michelini, Holley and Kaiser are set to make their regional debuts.
AZTEC REGIONAL HISTORY
Since the NCAA regional tournaments began in 1989, SDSU has received a bid 18 times, including a current streak of 15 straight from 1999 to 2013.
The Aztecs have placed in the top 10 on seven occasions, with their best finish coming in 2011 when they captured the team title at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club. The lowest score in regional competition for SDSU also occurred that season when it posted a combined 19-under 833 en route to the seven-stroke victory.
Two-time All-American J.J. Spaun set three Aztec regional records last year at Stanford, including lowest score (12-under 198), lowest round (7-under 63) and best individual finish (2nd). The record for best single round by an SDSU golfer at a regional was previously held by Magnus Carlsson, who shot a 6-under 66 in 1999.
The Aztecs have advanced to the national championships 26 times in school history, including four times (1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2011) since the regional format made its debut. Overall, this is the 15th time SDSU has played an NCAA regional in the Pacific time zone, including 11 in a row.
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