May 27, 2017
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – San Diego State men's golfer PJ Samiere (Kailua, Hawaii) was one of 26 student-athletes named to the PING All-West Region team, as announced Saturday by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).
With his selection, the Aztec junior garnered all-region accolades for the first time in his career, making him eligible for GCAA All-America consideration next month. In addition, Samiere's honor gives the Scarlet and Black at least one all-region player for the seventh consecutive season and 15th overall since the award was established in 2008.
In all, a total of 14 schools were represented in the West, while 154 players overall were honored across six regions - Northeast, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West.
Samiere, who received all-Mountain West recognition last month, led San Diego State with a 72.11 scoring average in 12 events during the 2016-17 campaign, which ranks ninth in the conference. The Kailua, Hawaii, native also topped the squad with 19 rounds at or below par, including six in the 60s.
Last fall, Samiere recorded a pair of runner-up performances at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and the Saint Mary's Invitational, leading the Aztecs to a pair of team titles. Additionally, he tied for the Aztecs' fourth-best 18-hole score in program history after firing a collegiate-low 64 in the opening round of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in October.
Samiere was also the team's No. 1 finisher at the NCAA Washington Regional earlier this month, where he tied for 22nd after carding a 5-over 218. He was also the squad's top golfer at the elite Southern Highlands Collegiate in March after finishing 17th in a field that featured 10 schools ranked in the top 25 nationally.
Under the direction of 14th-year head coach Ryan Donovan, San Diego State ended the 2016-17 season by appearing in its school-record 19th consecutive regional tournament, posting an eight-place finish at Aldarra Golf Club in Sammamish, Washington.
2017 PING ALL-WEST REGION TEAM
PJ Samiere, San Diego State
Viraat Badhwar, Stanford
Shintaro Ban, UNLV
Aaron Beverly, Sacramento State
Andrej Bevins, New Mexico
Chun An Yu, Arizona State
Wyndham Clark, Oregon
Roy Cootes, Pepperdine
Sean Crocker, USC
Jared du Toit, Arizona State
Patrick Fishburn, Brigham Young
Harry Hall, UNLV
Rico Hoey, USC
Franklin Huang, Stanford
Maverick McNealy, Stanford
Collin Morikawa, California
John Oda, UNLV
Corey Pereira, Washington
Rhett Rasmussen, Brigham Young
Hayden Shieh, Santa Clara
Justin Suh, USC
Sahith Theegala, Pepperdine
Tim Widing, San Francisco
Brandon Wu, Stanford
Norman Xiong, Oregon
Carl Yuan, Washington