March 18, 2016
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The 24th-ranked San Diego State men's golf team will play host to its second straight home tournament next week when it conducts the Barona Collegiate Cup, March 21-22, in Lakeside, Calif.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament will be contested on the par-72, 7,354-yard Barona Creek Golf Club, with the first two rounds on Monday, followed by the final 18 holes on Tuesday. Both days are scheduled to commence with an 8:30 a.m. PT shotgun start. Admission is free to the public, and a live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
The Aztecs will tee off for the first two rounds with Minnesota, Princeton and fellow Mountain West rival Air Force, while another conference foe Boise State finds itself in the mix, along with Alabama State, CSU Bakersfield, Sacramento State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara. The field will also include individual competitors from Oklahoma State, Utah and the University of San Diego.
San Diego State will have 10 golfers compete at Barona Creek, featuring the starting lineup of seniors Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy) and Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), juniors Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.) and Brian Song (Beverly Hills, Calif.), along with sophomore Gunn Yang (Pyeongchang, South Korea).
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan will also have five unattached golfers participating in next week's event, including senior Michael Koeneke (San Diego, Calif.), sophomores Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.), Pablo Matesanz (Irun, Spain) and PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii), as well as freshman Otto Vanhatalo (Espoo, Finland).
SDSU is coming off its fourth consecutive third-place finish last week at the Lamkin San Diego Classic, where it shot a combined 4-over 868 at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista. The Aztecs were paced by Mendoza, who tied for third after carding a 3-under 213, while Ree and Michelini tied for the ninth spot at 1-over 217.
Mendoza leads SDSU with a 70.93 stroke average in 15 rounds this season, followed closely by Ree (71.05) and Michelini (71.14), who are the only two players to start all seven tournaments for the Aztecs. Entering the week, Ree ranks 35th in the latest Golfstat Cup standings, followed by Michelini, who occupies the 44h position, while Mendoza checks in at No. 82.
This season marks the 13th edition of the Barona Collegiate Cup, which was revived in 2015 after two-year hiatus. San Diego State has captured the team title on five occasions since the event was christened in 2001, including last season when the Scarlet and Black tied for the sixth-best 54-hole tally in program history with a 31-under 833. Individually, former Aztec All-American Xander Schauffele established a school-record for lowest score in relation to par after carding a 17-under 199 to claim medalist honors.
The Aztecs also took home three consecutive crowns from 2010 to 2012, with former All-American J.J. Spaun posting the third of his five career titles in 2012. In addition, San Diego State was victorious in 2002 as John Lepak (-10) shared top honors with California's Peter Tomasulo.
Following the graduation of Schauffele, Mendoza is the top returning individual after finishing a solo second at the event last year as an unattached golfer with a collegiate-best 14-under 202. Samiere (-8) also tied for sixth at Barona last season as a member of the Aztec starting five, while Ree (T-8th, -7) and Michelini (10th, -6) cracked the top 10 as individual players.
Elsewhere, UC Riverside's Sam Gillis, who tied for fourth at the tournament a year ago with a 9-under 207, and Aaron Beverly of Sacramento State (T-11th, -5) are back in the mix as well.
Following the Barona Collegiate Cup, San Diego State will have a 10-day break from competition before returning to action for the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, April 2-3, in Tempe, Ariz.