April 20, 2016
SDSU Tournament Notes | Live Results | Championship Central
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's golf team will be aiming for its second straight conference title and fourth in the last six years this weekend when it travels to the desert for the Mountain West Championship, April 22-24, in Tucson, Ariz. For the 10th consecutive season, the 54-hole event will be contested on the Catalina Course at the OMNI Tucson National Golf Club, which will play as a par-72, 7,194-yard track.
The 11-team field will complete 18 holes on each of the three days, following a practice round on Thursday. The Aztecs, who have been idle since April 13, earned the No. 1 seed are slated to tee off with No. 2 UNLV in the first tee group on Friday, starting at 7 a.m. PT, while the pairings for the final two rounds with be based on team standings. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
SDSU, which received a No. 22 national ranking in the latest Golfstat team index, will be traveling to Tucson without having played the Catalina Course in a regular-season tournament prior to the MW Championship for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign.
Aztec Lineup for the Weekend
For the just the second time this season, San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan will utilize the starting lineup of seniors Riccardo Michelini (Carpi, Italy) and Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), junior Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomores Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.) and PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii). The combination led the Aztecs to a third-place finish at the Southwestern Jones Invitational, held Feb. 29-March 1 in Westlake Village, Calif.
Abercrombie is the lone newcomer for the Scarlet and Black at the MW Championship, while Michelini will be making his fourth straight appearance, joining Mendoza, a three-time participant, while Ree and Samiere are back in the mix for the second year in a row.
SDSU boasts three players in the latest Golfstat Cup standings released April 19, including Ree (17), Mendoza (22) and Michelini (59). In addition, Mendoza (1), Michelini (3) and Ree (5) enter the weekend occupying three of the top five positions in the Golfstat Mountain West head-to-head rankings.
The Competition
Five of SDSU's opponents this weekend find themselves among the top 100 in the latest Golfstat rankings released April 20. UNLV is the highest rated team of the group, checking in at No. 29, followed by New Mexico (37), Wyoming (85), Colorado State (89) and Fresno State (94). The Aztecs will also battle Nevada (135), Utah State (141), San José State (166), Boise State (199) and Air Force (210).
SDSU owns a 12-4 record in head-to-head results against nine conference adversaries during the 2015-16 campaign, including unblemished marks against Fresno State (3-0), San José State (3-0), Boise State (2-0), Nevada (2-0), Air Force (1-0) and Wyoming (1-0). However, the Aztecs have come up empty this season vs. New Mexico (0-2), Colorado State (0-1) and UNLV (0-1). Utah State is the lone MW school the Scarlet and Black has not faced in a regularly scheduled tournament this year.
Individually, eight of the top-15 finishers return from last season's conference championship, including the Aztecs' own Ryann Ree (T-4th) and Nahum Mendoza III (T-7th), along with Nick Fuller (3rd) and Grant Booth of Nevada (T-7th), New Mexico's Gustavo Morantes (11th), Dominic Kieffer of Colorado State (T-8th), as well as John Oda and Shintaro Ban of UNLV, who both tied for 13th.
SDSU's Riccardo Michelini, who tied for first in regulation at the 2014 Mountain West Championship, is also expected to contend, along with Andrej Bevins and Sam Kim of New Mexico, UNLV's Harry Hall, Trevor Clayton of Fresno State and Nevada's Travis Fredborg, all of whom find themselves among the top 15 in the MW rankings.
Aztecs At The Mountain West Championship
In the 17-year history of the Mountain West, San Diego State has won three team championships, capturing back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, followed by a thrilling victory in 2015. The Aztecs also tied for the top spot in 2009, but lost in a team playoff to TCU after rallying from a five-stroke deficit in regulation.
In addition, SDSU has finished second seven times (2014, 2013, 2010, 2009, 2006, 2003, 2001), placed fourth on three occasions (2005, 2004, 2002), came in fifth twice (2007, 2000) and ended up in the seventh position once (2008).
The Aztecs' best individual finish was recorded in 2001 when John Lepak posted a 3-over 219 to win by one stroke at Sunriver Resort in Oregon. SDSU's Adam Porzak also tied for first place in regulation in 2007, but came up just short in a one-hole playoff loss to Robby Ormand of TCU. Last season, former All-American Xander Schauffele finished just two shots off the pace in second at 9-under 204 to set an SDSU record for lowest 54-hole score at a conference tournament.
The Aztecs have fared routinely well on the individual leaderboard at the MW tournament, placing at least one player among the top four in each of the last 10 seasons and 15 times overall.
Just A Chip Shot Away
The winner of this week's Mountain West Championship earns an automatic bid to the NCAA regional tournament, May 16-18. The two nearest potential regional sites for SDSU are still located outside of California, The Gallery Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz., and UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, where the Scarlet and Black competed at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate last September. The Aztecs could also be sent to Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis., Vanderbilt Legends Club in Nashville, Tenn., or The Ol' Colony Golf Complex in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In all, 81 teams and 45 individuals not on those squads will be divided up among the six regional tournaments. The participants will be selected by the NCAA men's golf committee and are scheduled to be announced on Thursday, May 5, at 9:30 a.m. ET (6:30 a.m. PT) on The Golf Channel.
A total of 30 schools and two individuals (not on those qualifying teams) will advance to the NCAA championships, May 27-June 1, at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore. The Aztecs have made the national championships on 23 occasions in school history, including seven times (1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015) since the regional format made its debut.
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