Oct. 9, 2015
SAN DIEGO -- After a two-week break from competition, the San Diego State men's golf team returns to the fairways next week when it travels north to the Bay Area for the Alister McKenzie Invitational, Oct. 12-13, at the par-71, 6,734-yard Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.
The first 36 holes of the two-day tournament will be conducted on Monday, beginning with a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m. PT, while final-round action commences on Tuesday with a 7:45 a.m. tee time on holes 1 and 10. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
SDSU, which received a No. 27 ranking in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin index, will square off against 10 additional schools ranked among the top 100, including Arizona State (11), host California (30), Michigan (54), Pepperdine (59), Oregon State (63), Colorado (73), Fresno State (79), UC Davis (90), San Francisco (94) and Minnesota (98), while Brigham Young, Hawai'i, Nevada, San Diego and San José State round out the 16-team field.
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan will accompany five golfers to the historic Marin County course, led by sophomore Gunn Yang (Pyeongchang, South Korea), seniors Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy) and Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), sophomore PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii) and junior Brian Song (Beverly Hills, Calif.).
SDSU is coming off a fifth-place performance at the University of New Mexico's William H. Tucker Intercollegiate on Sept. 26, with Yang tying for the sixth spot on the individual leaderboard at 3-under 213 for his highest finish in an Aztec uniform.
Through two tournaments, Yang and Michelini lead SDSU with a 72.00 scoring average, followed closely by Song (73.33) and Ree (73.83). Song was the squad's top finisher at the season-opening Saint Mary's Invitational on Sept. 16, where he tied for fourth at 1-under 212 to help the Scarlet and Black capture the team title.
With the exception of a temporary stop at the par-72, 7,103-yard Sonoma Golf Club in 2013, the Alister MacKenzie Invitational has been contested at the exclusive Meadow Club 11 times in the tournament's 12-year history. The Aztecs took sixth out of 16 schools at last season's event after posting a combined 2-over 854, while Michelini was the team's top individual, tying for fourth with a 4-under 209 for his highest finish of the 2014-15 campaign. In addition, Song tied for 30th at 4-over 217, while Samiere landed in the 44th position at 7-over 220.
SDSU, which is making its eighth overall appearance at the tournament, captured the team title in 2007 with a collected d 24-under 828 after climbing over six schools during a furious final-round rally to finish four strokes in front of second-place Washington. The Scarlet and Black also sported the individual winner in 2010, as Alex Kang fired a 16-under 197 to claim a one-stroke victory over teammate Todd Baek and Ben An of California.
Cal has won the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in each of the last six seasons, including a shared crown with Oregon in 2011. With four golfers placing among the top 15, the Golden Bears (-13) edged Arizona State (-11) by two shots for the title a year ago. The Sun Devils' Max Rottluff returns to defend his individual championship, while Cal's Sebastian Crampton, who finished a solo third in 2014, is also back in the mix.
Following their northern California excursion, the Aztecs will wrap up their fall slate at the Gifford Collegiate, Nov. 2-4, in Carlsbad, Calif. UCLA will serve as host to the three-day event at OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa.