SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's golf team opens the fall portion of its 2019-20 campaign this week when it travels to the Pacific Northwest for the Husky Invitational, Sept. 16-17, at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.
The first two rounds of the 54-hole event will be contested on Monday with tee times as early as 7 a.m. PT, while the final round is slated for Tuesday completion on the par-72, 7,179-yard course layout. A live scoring link for all three rounds will be available on GoAztecs.com, courtesy of Golfstat.
In addition to host Washington, the Aztecs will battle three other Pac-12 schools in Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State while getting an early look at Mountain West adversaries Boise State, Nevada and New Mexico. SDSU will also engage a trio of West Coast Conference foes in Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and San Diego, while Hawai'i, Idaho, Long Beach State and Seattle round out the 15-team field.
Now in his 17th season at the helm of the Aztecs, head coach Ryan Donovan has penciled in the starting lineup of juniors Christian Banke (Danville, Calif.) and Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), freshman Callum Bruce (Banff, Scotland), sophomore Leo Oyo (Tokyo, Japan) and junior Zihao Jin (Beijing, China).
The Husky Invitational will also feature an auxiliary 54-hole individual tournament to be held concurrently at McCormick Woods Golf Course in Port Orchard, Washington, featuring the SDSU quartet of senior Ambrose Abbracciamento (Newtown, Pa.), junior Steve Sugimoto (San Diego, Calif.), senior Newport Laparojkit (Montebello, Calif.) and freshman Simone Armando Colozza (Rome, Italy).
Anupansuebsai is the Aztecs' top returner after posting a 72.48 scoring average in nine events during the 2018-19 campaign to earn all-Mountain West honors for the first time in his career. He also led the Scarlet and Black with five rounds in the 60s and finished with 12 rounds at or below par for the season.
Banke, meanwhile, compiled a 72.55 stroke average last year, topping the squad with 13 rounds at or below par. The Danville, California, native tied Anupansuebsai for eighth place on the individual leaderboard at the Mountain West Championship last spring after both players shot an 8-under 208, which is tied for the program's third-best 54-hole score in a conference tournament.
In addition, Bruce arrives on The Mesa as a heralded recruit from Midland College in Texas, where he garnered the Jack Nicklaus NJCAA Player of the Year Award in each of the past two years. Last May, the Banff, Scotland, product captured medalist honors at the NJCAA Division I Championships at Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, Florida, after firing a combined 17-under-par 271 to win by four strokes.
Anupansuebsai is also coming off a successful summer where he won the Bayonet Black Horse Amateur Championship in Seaside, California, with a 7-under 209. He was additionally one of three SDSU players to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championships in Pinehurst North Carolina, along with Oyo and Jin. Ironically, Oyo advanced to the second round of match play at the event with a come-from-behind 2&1 victory over Anupansuebsai in round one.
San Diego State will be making its first appearance at the Husky Invitational since 2014, when it posted a third-place finish at the same venue. However, the Aztecs last visited Gold Mountain Golf Club in 2018 for the Mountain West Championship, where they landed in the eighth position. SDSU will use this week's event as a preview for the conference tournament, which returns to the same site next May.
Washington is the defending team champion after cruising to a 16-shot victory over Nevada last season with a combined 21-over 1081 in a six-count-five format at Aldarra Golf Club in Sammamish, Washington.
The Huskies boasted the individual medalist as well in Robert Moran, who is no longer on the active roster, leaving UW's Noah Woolsey as the top returner after tying for second at 1-over 214, two shots off the pace. Also likely back in the mix are Boise State's Brian Humphreys (T-7th, +5), Joe Neuheisel (T-12th, +8) and Hugo Townsend (T-12th, +8), Nevada's Sam Meek (T-9th, +7), Washington's Henry Lee (T-9th, +7) and Long Beach State's Hunter Epson (T-15th, +9)
Following the Husky Invitational, San Diego State will compete in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, Sept. 27-28, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.