SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's golf team returns to the fairways in earnest next week when it ventures to the Bay Area for the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Oct. 8-9, at the historic Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.
The first 36 holes of the two-day event will be contested on Monday following an 8:15 a.m. PT shotgun start, while Tuesday's final round is slated to begin with tee times off holes 1 and 10 as early as 7:40 a.m. PT on the par-71, 6,734-yard course layout. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
In addition to host California, SDSU will battle Mountain West rivals Fresno State and San José State, along with four other northern California schools in Saint Mary's, San Francisco, Santa Clara and UC Davis, while Arizona State, Augusta, Hawai'i, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Pepperdine and San Diego round out the 15-team field.
Head coach Ryan Donovan will accompany six golfers to Marin County, including the starting lineup of Joey Moore (Billings, Mont.), Steve Sugimoto (San Diego, Calif.), Zihao Jin (Beijing, China), Aaron Whalen (Ephrata, Wash.) and Youssef Guezzale (San Diego, Calif.). In addition, Christian Banke (Danville, Calif.) will make the trek north as an individual competitor.
The Aztecs are coming off a sixth-place performance in their last outing at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., where Moore tied for 19th with a 1-over 217 in his first varsity start in a Scarlet and Black uniform. In addition, Sugimoto finished two shots behind in a tie for 32nd at 3-over 219, while Guezzale landed in the 58th position at 9-over 225.
Jin, who found his way back into the rotation this week, actually tied Moore on the leaderboard in New Mexico playing as an unattached golfer, while Whalen receives his first starting assignment of the year with the NorCal trip after competing as an individual last month in his San Diego State debut at the Pioneer Creek Intercollegiate in Maple Grove, Minn., where he posted a 10-over 226.
Through six rounds this season, Moore and Sugimoto lead the Scarlet and Black with a 72.00 scoring average, while Jin (73.50) ranks fourth.
With the exception of a temporary stop at the par-72, 7,103-yard Sonoma Golf Club in 2013, the Alister MacKenzie Invitational has been contested at the exclusive Meadow Club 14 times in the tournament's 15-year history.
SDSU, which is making its 11th overall appearance at the event, claimed the team title in 2007 with a combined 24-under 828 after vaulting over six schools during a furious final-round rally to finish four strokes in front of second-place Washington. The Scarlet and Black also sported the individual champion in 2010, as Alex Kang fired a 16-under 197 to claim a one-stroke victory over teammate Todd Baek and Ben An of California.
The Aztecs finished fourth at the 2017 installment of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational after posting a combined 19-under 833; however, none of the golfers in this year's San Diego State delegation have competed in the event.
California shot a blistering 41-under 811 to capture the crown at its home tournament for the eighth time in the last nine years, while Santa Clara (-24) was a distant second, followed by Arizona State (-20) and the Aztecs (-19).
With the departure of the Golden Bears' K.K, Limbhasut, who captured medalist honors at the event last season, fellow teammate Sebastian Crompton and San José State's Kevin Velo are top returning individual after both finished a close second at 14-under 199, while Oregon State's Spencer Tibbets (6th, -11) and Cal's Collin Morikawa (9th, -9) are also back in the mix.
Following the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, San Diego State wraps up its fall tournament schedule next month when it travels north once again, this time to the Monterey Peninsula for the Saint Mary's Invitational, Nov. 5-7, at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif.