SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's golf team continues its spring season Monday when it co-hosts the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic at the par-72, 7,033-yard San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif. The Aztecs are one of 19 schools slated to compete in the 54-hole tournament, which will feature two 18-hole rounds on Monday and the final round on Tuesday.
The tournament includes five programs ranked among the top 25 in the latest Golfstat team rankings released on March 3, as well as nine in the top 42. Along with No. 28 SDSU and San Diego, set to compete at the Lamkin Invitational are No. 3 Arizona State, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 11 Arizona, No. 18 Brigham Young, No. 19 Colorado State, No. 33 California, No. 37 Tennessee, No. 42 Ole Miss, Air Force, Colorado, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary's, Sam Houston State, San Francisco , Santa Clara and UC Davis.
San Diego State will tee off from holes No. 1 through No. 4, beginning at 8:15 a.m. PT Monday, and will be playing with Arizona, California and Texas A&M, while the second round is expected to start around 1 p.m. PT. A live scoring link courtesy of Golfstat will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com, with the final round on Tuesday set for 8:30 a.m. PT.
Aztec head coach Ryan Donovan has decided on the lineup of junior Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), sophomore Leo Oyo (Tokyo), junior Christian Banke (Danville, Calif.), senior Newport Laparojkit (Montebello, Calif.) and junior Zihao Jin (Beijing).
SDSU is coming off an impressive third-place showing at The Prestige presented by Charles Schwab in a loaded field from Feb. 17-19 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. San Diego State finished with a 11-under 841 over the three rounds, led by Oyo's individual victory at 11-under 202.
Anupansuebsai (69.29) has the lowest scoring average for San Diego State and is coming off a T10 finish at The Prestige at 4-under 209, including back-to-back 4-under 67s over the final two rounds. Anupansuebsai has only one finish in the 2019-20 season outside the top 15 and had a 5-stroke individual victory at the Bill Cullum Invitational at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif., on Oct. 14-15.
Oyo (70.00) is right behind Anupansuebsai in scoring average, fresh off the first victory of his collegiate career at The Prestige. Oyo's other best showing was a fifth-place finish at the Bill Cullum Invite at 10-under 206 and he also has finished among the top 20 in four events.
Like Oyo, Banke (70.71) has played in all six events this season, highlighted by a tie for fourth at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sept. 27-28 with a 6-under 210.
Laparojkit (71.55), meanwhile, will be competing for just the second time as part of the team as he tied for 19th at the Bill Cullum Invite at 3-under 213. Overall, he has finished among the top 20 in all four of his events, including a tie for fifth at the Olympic College Invitational on Sept. 16-17, 2019 when he competed as an individual.
Jin (71.64) will be representing the Aztecs for the third time, but for the first occasion since tying for 56th at the William H. Tucker Invitational at 12-over 228. In his last event, Jin took second out of 87 golfers while competing as an individual at the CSUSM Fujikura Invitational on Feb. 3-4 at 2-under 214.
Competing individually for SDSU will be junior Callum Bruce (Banff, Scotland), sophomore Amadeo Figus (Rome), sophomore Youssef Guezzale (San Diego) and junior Steve Sugimoto (San Diego).
The Lamkin San Diego Classic is celebrating its 13th anniversary while marking its 10th consecutive year as a two-day, 54-hole competition. The tournament, formerly known as the San Diego Intercollegiate, was launched in 2008 primarily as an opportunity for local schools to compete against one another. The event has now expanded from local competition to host teams from all across the nation.
This is the 11th time overall and 10th year in a row that the Lamkin San Diego Classic will be held at San Diego Country Club. The inaugural meet took place at the Chula Vista course and moved to the La Jolla Country Club in 2009, followed by a one-year stint at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in 2010. Before becoming a two-day tournament in 2011, the event was a one-day, 36-hole challenge.
Last season, Arizona State captured the team title after posting a 10-under-par 854, narrowly beating runner-up Texas (-9). ASU's Mason Andersen won medalist honors at 6-under-210 after defeating Cole Hammer (Texas) and Blake Hathcoat (Saint Mary's) in a playoff on the first hole.
San Diego State finished fifth at last season's event with an 8-over 872. Anupansuebsai is the Aztecs' top returner form that tournament, where he tied for eighth with a 1-under 215. Banke (T-16, +1), Oyo (T-20, +3), Laparojkit (T-20, +3) and Jin (T-50, +9) are all back to compete this year.
Senior Ambrose Abbracciamento (Newtown, Pa.), freshman Simone Armando Colozza (Rome) and sophomore Joey Moore (Billings, Mont.) will also be competing as individuals at the Coronado Individual at the par-72, 6,590-yard Coronado Golf Course in Coronado, Calif. The trio will tee off from the first hole, beginning at 7:52 a.m. PT, and will play a second round at 12:45 p.m. PT and the final round on Tuesday.
Following the Lamkin Invitational, SDSU will head to Eugene, Ore., for the Duck Invitational from March 23-24.
SDSU Men's Golf Set to Co-Host the Lamkin Invitational
