Aug. 10, 2016
2016-17 SDSU Men's Golf Schedule
SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State head men's golf coach Ryan Donovan released his team's 2016-17 schedule on Wednesday, with a return visit to exclusive Pebble Beach in late October and a challenging trip to Las Vegas next spring highlighting the Aztecs' slate, along with a home tournament in mid-March.
SDSU hits the fairways for its fall opener next month when it travels to the Land of 10,000 Lakes for the University of Minnesota's Gopher Invitational, Sept. 10-11, at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minn., located just west of Minneapolis.
Following an 11-day hiatus, the Aztecs will compete at a familiar locale when they participate in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, Sept. 22-23, in Albuquerque, N.M. SDSU will be returning to the scene of its dramatic finish at NCAA regionals last spring, where it defeated Texas A&M on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at UNM South Championship Course to claim the fifth and final spot in the national championships.
Another two-week break awaits the Scarlet and Black before the squad jumps back into action for the 14th annual Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Oct 10-11, at The Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., situated across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Temperatures soared into the 90s at the event last season as the Aztecs posted the third-lowest 54-hole team score in program history with a 31-under-par 852 en route to a fourth-place finish.
SDSU will then look to defend its tournament title from a year ago when it heads north once again for the Saint Mary's Invitational, Oct. 24-26, in Pebble Beach, Calif. Last season, the Aztecs emerged victorious at the famed Poppy Hills Golf Course as three starters placed among the individual top 10, including returning letterwinner Brian Song, who tied for fourth.
SDSU will remain idle over the next three months before opening its 2017 spring schedule with tournaments in four consecutive weeks, starting with The Prestige at PGA West, Feb. 20-22, in La Quinta, Calif. The Aztecs will be visiting the Coachella Valley for the sixth straight year, posting third-place finishes in each of the last two seasons.
San Diego State continues its busy stretch when it makes the trek to the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles for the Southwestern Invitational, Feb. 27-28, at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif. The Aztecs posted another third-place result at the event a year ago, with second-team PING All-American Nahum Mendoza III tying for second individually.
SDSU will step out of the Golden State the following week when it partakes in the Southern Highlands Collegiate, March 6-7, in Las Vegas, Nev. The Aztecs have not traveled to Sin City since winning the District 7 Shootout in October 2006. Last season's 15-team field at Southern Highlands Golf Club featured nine schools ranked among the top 20 at the time, including six in the top 10.
Coach Donovan's troops return home for their next tournament when they co-host the Lamkin San Diego Classic, March 13-14, at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif. SDSU will be looking to end a three-year drought on their South Bay home course after snaring the crown in 2013.
Following a brief one-week respite, the Aztecs will pack their bags for the Oregon Duck Invitational, March 27-28, in Eugene, Ore. SDSU is well acquainted with the layout at Eugene Country Club, having participated in the NCAA Championships at the site last May, where it finished 25th out of 30 teams after completing three rounds of stroke play.
As the calendar flips pages, the Aztecs will make their seventh consecutive appearance at the historic Western Intercollegiate, April 8-9, at picturesque Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif., before jetting over to the desert for the conference tournament.
For the 11th straight season, the Mountain West Championship will be contested on the Catalina Course at OMNI Tucson Resort in Tucson, Ariz. Last year, SDSU tied for fourth after capturing the title in 2015. The Scarlet and Black also took home conference crowns in 2011 and 2012.
The Aztecs will be looking to reload after the graduation of Ryann Ree, who received PING All-America honorable mention a year ago, and all-West Region honoree Riccardo Michelini. But if all the pieces fall into place once again this season, the Scarlet and Black will likely extend its school record of NCAA regional appearances to 19 consecutive years.
This season's regional championships will be conducted over three days, May 15-17, at six campus sites, including Stanford, Calif. (Stanford), Auburn, Wash., (Washington), Austin, Texas (Texas), West Lafayette, Ind. (Purdue), Baton Rouge, La. (LSU) and College Grove, Tenn. (Middle Tennessee State). If the Aztecs qualify for the NCAA finals, they will compete in the national championship series for the third year in a row and fifth time in the last seven seasons, May 26-31, at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
San Diego State, which finished the 2015-16 season with a No. 27 national ranking by Golfstat, returns three starters from last year's squad, including Mendoza, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, along with 2014 U.S. Amateur Champion Gunn Yang and PJ Samiere, who won the Southwestern Amateur earlier this summer.