SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's golf will play its third event in as many weeks when it travels to the Pacific Northwest for the Duck Invitational, March 25-26, at Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Ore.
The 30th installment of the tournament will commence on Monday with the first two rounds in a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m. PT, while the final 18 holes are slated for a Tuesday completion on the par-72, 7,145-yard track. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available on GoAztecs.com.
Along with host school Oregon, the 16-team field features two other Pac-12 members in Oregon State and Washington State. In addition, the Aztecs will be afforded an early look at fellow Mountain West rivals Boise State, Nevada, San José State and Wyoming, while Denver, Hawai'i, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Oral Roberts, Pacific, San Francisco and Seattle round out the list of participating squads.
San Diego State will be paired with San Francisco, Washington State and Boise State for the first two rounds Monday on holes 9-12.
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan has adjusted his lineup this week to feature the starting five of Christian Banke (Danville, Calif.), Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), Joey Moore (Billings, Mont.), Leo Oyo (Tokyo, Japan) and Steve Sugimoto (San Diego, Calif.).
The group comprised four-fifths of the SDSU contingent at the Arizona National Invitational Tournament last week, minus Sugimoto, who will be making his first varsity appearance since the Aztecs' spring opener at The Prestige at PGA West in mid-February.
The Scarlet and Black is coming off a ninth-place performance during their jaunt to Tucson, posting a collective 10-under 854 to finish 14 shots behind Iowa State (-24) for fifth place in a tournament where Arizona State coasted to the team title with a 50-under 814.
Individually, Banke was SDSU top finisher at the Arizona NIT, tying for 23rd with a 4-under 212, while Oyo was three shots in back in a tie for 37th at 1-under 215.
Despite missing the last three events, Sugimoto is the Aztecs top active golfer with a 72.80 scoring average through 15 rounds this season, followed in succession by Anupansuebsai (72.89, 18 rounds), Moore (72.95, 21 rounds) and Banke (73.08, 24 rounds).
San Diego State last competed at the Duck Invitational in March 2017 at Eugene Country Club, where it recorded a fourth-place standing at 16-over 868 on the par-71, 7,020-yard layout.
The Aztecs have had a history of success at the tournament, capturing team crowns in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2008, while posting a second-place finish in 2005. Jeff Hansen (-5, 211) claimed medalist honors as a sophomore at the 2004 edition for the Scarlet and Black's highest individual placement in the event since 1999.
Oregon shared the team title with Liberty at its home tournament last year, which was conducted at Eugene Country Club. With the departure of the Ducks' Norman Xiong, who captured medalist honors in 2018 before completing his eligibility, Oregon State's Spencer Tibbits is the event's top returning individual after finishing alone in fourth place at 2-under 211, while teammate Shawn Lu tied for fifth at 1-under 212. Also back in the mix are Oregon's Ryan Gronlund (T-9th, +1) and San José State's Kevin Velo (T-24th, +8).
Following their Oregon excursion, San Diego State will have one final tune-up before the Mountain West Championship when it heads to northern California for the historic Western Intercollegiate, April 15-17, at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz. All three days of the tournament will be televised live by the Golf Channel.