Sept. 15, 2013
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's golf team opens its 2013-14 schedule this week when it travels to the Pacific Northwest for the Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational, Sept. 16-17, in Bremerton, Wash.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament will be contested on the par-72, 7,124-yard Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club, with the first two rounds slated to get underway on Monday at 7:30 a.m. PT, while the final 18 holes are scheduled for Tuesday. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available both days on www.goaztecs.com.
Along with host Washington, the 15-team event features a heavy Pac-12 Conference flavor, with the Aztecs battling the likes of Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, Utah and Washington State, while Brigham Young, Gonzaga, Pacific, Pepperdine, Saint Mary's, San Diego and UC Davis comprise the remainder of the field.
Head coach Ryan Donovan, entering his 11th season at SDSU, will bring seven golfers to the Evergreen State, including the starting lineup of Xander Schauffele, James Holley, Austin Kaiser, Ricky DeSantis and Kevin Ko. In addition, Brian Song and Nahum Mendoza III will compete in the individual tournament on the par-71, 6,707-yard Cascade Course.
Schauffele is the Aztecs top returner, earning all-Mountain West honors a year ago after posting a 72.13 stroke average, which ranked sixth in the conference. Last month, the Scripps Ranch High alumnus advanced to the round of 16 in match play at the U.S. Amateur Championship in Brookline, Mass.
This week's tournament marks the ninth time since 2000 that SDSU has competed at the Husky Invitiational. The Aztecs finished fifth out of 15 squads a year ago after shooting a collective 24-over 888, while Washington (-2) took home the team title. Individually, Schauffele logged the first of his eight top-20 finishes of the 2012-13 campaign, tying for 18th at 6-over 222, while Kaiser (228 (+12)) and Holley (232 (+16)) landed in the 38th and 51st positions, respectively. Ko also saw action in last year's individual tournament where he tied for 27th at 19-over 232.
Following the Husky Invitational, SDSU will have 10 days off before returning to the course for the William H. Tucker Invitational, scheduled for Sept. 27-28 at the University of New Mexico Championship Course in Albuquerque, N.M.