SAN DIEGO – In its final tournament prior to the Mountain West Championship, the San Diego State women's golf team will travel north to wine country early next week to participate in the sixth annual Silverado Showdown, April 7-9, at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif.
The three-day 54-hole event, co-hosted by Colorado and Oregon, will be conducted on the par-72, 6,192-yard Silverado North Course and will feature double tee times on holes 1 and 10 for the first two rounds Sunday and Monday, beginning as early as 8 a.m. PT, while the final 18 holes are slated to commence on Tuesday in a shotgun start at 7:45 a.m. PT. A live scoring link, courtesy of Golfstat, will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com.
The elite 18-team field features 11 teams ranked among the top 50 in the latest Golfstat ratings index. The 43rd-ranked Aztecs will square off against the likes of No. 1 USC, No. 3 Stanford, No. 9 UCLA, No. 16 Northwestern, No. 24 Oregon, No. 25 Washington, No. 27 Pepperdine, No. 32 San Jose State, No. 40 Iowa State and No. 45 California. In addition, SDSU will be afforded an early look at three other MW rivals in Colorado State, New Mexico and UNLV, while Colorado, San Francisco, Washington State and Wisconsin round out the impressive list of competing schools.
For the second straight tournament and third time this spring, Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding will employ the starting lineup of Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland), Fernanda Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay), Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), Kitty Tam (Hong Kong, China) and April Ranches (San Diego, Calif.).
Carpinelli, who leads the Scarlet and Black with a 72.50 scoring average, has climbed to No. 32 in the latest NCAA player rankings by Golfstat after winning the medal round at SDSU's own Lamkin Invitational with a 2-under 70 on March 25. Last month, the Aztec senior posted her first collegiate victory at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, where she captured medalist honors with a 1-under 215, garnering MW Women's Golfer of the Month accolades in the process.
As a team, SDSU is coming off a third-place finish in the match-play portion of the Lamkin Invitational, its lone home tournament of the year at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe. The Aztecs landed a spot in the championship bracket after placing third in stroke play with a combined 13-over 301.
SDSU shutout UC Irvine 5-0 in its opening match before falling to California 3.5-1.5 in the second round. However, the Aztecs rebounded in a big way, toppling Sacramento State 4-1 to claim third place. Kjellker (3-0) and Escauriza (2-0-1) posted undefeated records for the week, while Carpinelli and Ranches both fashioned 2-1 marks.
SDSU has competed at the Silverado Showdown twice in the tournament's history, finishing 15th at the inaugural edition in 2014, followed by a 13th-place showing in 2016. Former Aztec great Emma Henrikson recorded San Diego State's highest individual placement in two appearances during that latter trip, tying for 13th on the leaderboard with a 4-over 220.
USC will be looking to defend its team title from last year when it carded a collective 5-under 859 to outpace runner-up California by 10 shots. In addition, Stanford's Mika Liu (T-5th, -3) is the top returning individual, with 2018 medalist Patty Tavatanakit of UCLA forgoing this season's installment to play in the LPGA's ANA Inspiration as an amateur.
Also back in the mix are Pepperdine's Hira Naveed (T-9th, -1), Oregon's Alexis Phadungmartvorakul (T-12th, +1), California's Marianne Li (T-15th, +2), USC's Amelia Garvey (T-19th, +4) and San José State's Franziska Friedrich (T-19th, +4).
Following the Silverado Showdown, San Diego State will travel to the Coachella Valley to compete in the 2019 Mountain West Championship, April 15-17, at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.