Feb. 25, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The 15th-ranked San Diego State men's golf team returns to the fairways next week when it heads to the Los Angeles area for the Southwestern Invitational, Feb. 27-28, at the par-72, 6,992-yard North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament, which will be contested on the Lakes and Oaks courses, is scheduled to commence on Monday with the first two rounds in a shotgun start, beginning at 8 a.m. PT, while the final 18 holes are slated for Tuesday with tee times off holes 1 and 10 as early as 7:30 a.m. A live scoring link for all three rounds will be available on GoAztecs.com courtesy of Golfstat.
Along with San Diego State, the tournament features eight additional schools among the top 65 in the latest Golfstat rankings, including No. 6 USC, No. 37 Michigan, No. 48 and tournament host Pepperdine, No. 52 College of Charleston, No. 54 Lipscomb, No. 56 Augusta and No. 63 Mississippi State. The Aztecs will also be afforded an early look at fellow Mountain West member Fresno State, while Idaho, Oregon State, SMU, UC Davis and Washington State round out the list of competing squads.
SDSU head coach Ryan Donovan will lead a contingent of six golfers to the San Fernando Valley, including the starting lineup Nahum Mendoza III (San Diego, Calif.), PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii), Blake Abercrombie (Rocklin, Calif.), Eric Ghim (Glendale, Ariz.) and Brian Song (Beverly Hills, Calif.), while Otto Vanhatalo (Espoo, Finland) will make his second straight appearance as an unattached golfer and fifth of the year.
The Aztecs are coming off a sixth-place tie at The Prestige at PGA WEST, where they posted a collective 10-over 862. SDSU, which held the lead at various times during the first and second rounds, entered the final day in a tie for third, two shots in back of front-runner LSU. However, the Scarlet and Black was unable to keep pace over the final 18 holes, tumbling into the sixth position after recording a collective 7-over 291.
Individually, Mendoza posted his highest finish of the season after tying for third at 4-under 209 on rounds of 70-68-71. With his total, the reigning Mountain West men's golfer of the year completed his second top-five placement of the year and eighth as a collegian. Meanwhile, Samiere was the only other SDSU golfer to finish among the top 20 for the week, tying for 14th at even-par 213 on rounds of 68-73-72.
The Aztecs find themselves at No. 15 in the latest Golfstat rankings, while the Scarlet and Black is listed 18th in the Golfweek/Sagarin index. Individually, Mendoza is currently 67th in the Golfstat Cup standings, while Samiere checks in at No. 74. A quick look at the most recent Golfweek individual rankings finds Mendoza at No. 33, while Samiere is 57th, followed by Abercrombie at No. 98.
The Southwestern Invitational is the merger of two previously existing tournaments: the Southwestern Intercollegiate, launched by USC in 1978, and the Jones Invitational, hosted by Pepperdine in 2014 and 2015.
San Diego State took third at last year's event, which went by the Southwestern Jones Invitational moniker. The Aztecs shot a combined 1-under 863, finishing five strokes in back of runner-up Pepperdine (-6) and a distant 20 shots behind team champion USC (-26). Mendoza was SDSU's No. 1 finisher at the tournament, tying for second with the Trojans' Jonah Texeira at 7-under 209, just one stroke in back of another USC player, Andrew Levitt (-8), who claimed the individual crown. Samiere (T-47th, +9) and Abercrombie (T-58th, +14) are the Aztecs' other two returners from last season's event at North Ranch Country Club.
SDSU captured the team title at the Jones Invitational in February 2014, after carding a collective 17-over 881 at Saticoy Country Club. Former Aztec Riccardo Michelini finished a solo second at the event, one shot away from medalist honors at 1-over 217, while Mendoza (+20) tied for 48th. San Diego State was also victorious at North Ranch in 2011 and 2012 when the tournament was known as the North Ranch Intercollegiate. In the 2012 edition, Aztec alumnus Matt Hoffenberg captured medalist honors with a 2-over 212.
In addition, SDSU was a double winner at Saticoy CC in the fall of 2005 when Pepperdine hosted the Club Glove Intercollegiate. The Aztecs (+29) topped the Waves by 16 strokes, while David Palm defeated teammate Josh Warthen in a one-hole playoff for the individual title.
Following the Southwestern Invitational, San Diego State will continue its busy stretch next week when it competes at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, March 6-7, in Las Vegas, Nev.