SAN DIEGO -- Fresh off a six-shot victory at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, the San Diego State men's golf team heads to the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf Monday on the historic par-70, 6,615-yard Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. The tournament will feature 18 holes apiece on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Aztecs are one of 15 teams competing at the Western Intercollegiate, including five teams - No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 19 Arizona, No. 23 SDSU, No. 37 Stanford and No. 43 Washington - in the top 50 of the latest Golfstat computer rankings (as of April 6). Also in the 96-player field is Brigham Young, California, Colorado State, Hawai'i, Oregon, San José State, UC Irvine, UCLA, USC and UTEP.
San Diego State will tee off from the first hole at 1:18 p.m. PT Monday and will be playing with USC.
The Western Intercollegiate will air live on the GOLF Channel from 4-7 p.m. PT on Monday and Tuesday, and from 1-4 p.m. PT Wednesday.
Bolstered by four top-20 individual finishes, including a runner-up showing by Puwit Anupansuebsai, the Aztecs stormed their way to the team title at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, April 5-6, with a tournament-record total of 33-under-par 831 at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz. It was SDSU's second team title of the season (also the Southwestern Invitational from Jan. 25-27) and third in its last nine team events. San Diego State also tied for the 10th-best 54-hole score in program history, a day after an opening round 267 tied for the second-lowest 18-hole score in school history.
The Western Intercollegiate is a six-count-five event, with Anupansuebsai, Zihao Jin, Steve Sugimoto, Callum Bruce, Youssef Guezzale and Joey Moore comprising head coach Ryan Donovan's starting lineup.
For the season, Bruce leads the Aztecs with a 71.56 scoring average, followed closely by Anupansuebsai (71.87). Jin and Sugimoto, meanwhile, each have a 72.33 stroke average, Guezzale has compiled a 72.93 average and Moore is at 73.75. Five of the six golfers - Bruce, Anupansuebsai, Sugimoto, Guezzale and Moore - have a top-10 finish this year, while Jin's best showing is a tie for 11th.
Entering its 74th year, the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf was christened in 1947 and is the oldest running men's college golf tournament west of the Mississippi River. The individual medalist at the Western receives the coveted Blue Jacket, honoring legendary Pasatiempo Golf Club course designer Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National Golf Club.
SDSU will be making its 10th consecutive appearance the Western Intercollegiate after last year's event was canceled because of the COVID pandemic, but just its 11th since 2001. San Diego State finished ninth out of 13 teams in its last appearance in 2019.
Four current Aztecs have played in this tournament before, with Anupansuebsai having the most success with a T11 in 2018 (3-under 207) and a T33 in 2019 (5-over 215). Sugimoto (T-54th, 10-over 220), Jin (T-63rd, 13-over 223) and Guezzale (T-76th, 19-over 229) also represented SDSU at the 2019 event.
Lars Johansson is the most recent San Diego State individual champion at the event, capturing medalist honors in 2001 after defeating Jason Higton of Pacific on the first hole of a sudden death playoff. In addition, Kris Moe emerged victorious at the Western in 1983, while Ron O'Connor accomplished the feat in 1960, guiding the Aztecs to their only team title in the history of the invitational.
Other notable winners of the Western Intercollegiate include Ken Venturi (1951, 1953), Johnny Miller (1968), Howard Twitty (1972), Peter Jacobsen (1974), Mark O'Meara (1978), Bobby Clampett (1980), Duffy Waldorf (1984), Arron Oberholser (1996), Joel Kribel (1997, 1999) and Jason Allred (2000).
In all, players who have competed in the Western Intercollegiate account for more than 350 PGA TOUR victories and 39 major championships, including past participants Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Steve Stricker and Roger Maltbie, not to mention former Aztec All-American Xander Schauffele.
Stanford (-10) took home the team title in 2019, while California (-4) was the only other team to shoot under-par.
The Western Intercollegiate is SDSU's final event before the Mountain West Championship, set for April 29-30 on the Catalina Course at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club in Arizona.