SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team continues its fall season when it travels to the Pacific Northwest for the Husky Invitational, Sept. 20-21, at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.
The 54-hole event will be contested over two days with two rounds slated for Monday and a final 18 holes on Tuesday on the par-72, 7,165-yard course layout.
The Aztecs will be joined at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club by Pac-12 programs Oregon, Oregon State, Washington (tournament host) and Washington State, and three other teams from the Mountain West - Boise State, Nevada and San José State - as the course will also play host to the 2022 Mountain West Championship, slated for April 29-May 1. Others in the 16-team field include Cal Poly, Idaho, Long Beach State, Missouri, Saint Mary's, Seattle, Southern Miss and Toledo.
San Diego State is paired with Oregon, Oregon State and Washington, and will tee off from holes 9-through-13, beginning at 7:45 a.m. PT Monday.
SDSU is coming off an impressive showing at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate (Sept. 10-12) when it set a program record with a final-round 16-under-par 264 en route to a fourth-place finish at 30-under 810 in a loaded field. San Diego State finished one stroke behind Auburn (-31) for third place and four ahead of Louisville (-26), while Georgia Tech (-44) and Clemson (-43) took first and second, respectively.
The Aztecs are receiving 43 votes in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll released Friday, which are the 28th-most points in the poll. Missouri (23, 32nd) and Washington (21, 33rd) also are receiving consideration in the poll and should be SDSU's biggest challengers at the Husky Invite.
San Diego State 19th-year head coach Ryan Donovan has penciled in the starting lineup of seniors Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS) and Steve Sugimoto (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS), along with freshman Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) and sophomore Liam Koeneke (Del Mar, Calif./La Jolla HS). Four of the five were in the Aztecs' starting lineup at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate, while Koeneke will be in the lineup for the first time of his career.
Guezzale was the team's top finisher last time out at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate, tying for 12th out of 90 golfers at 10-under 200, his lowest 54-hole score by seven strokes (previous best was 207 on Oct. 8-9, 2018 at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational) and tied for the seventh-lowest mark in program history. Guezzale fired a 6-under 64 in the final round, which was tied for the seventh-lowest 18-hole round in school history.
Lague, meanwhile, made his collegiate debut a good one, tying for 19th at 6-under 204. Lague carded a final-round 5-under 65, birdieing each of the final four holes.
Anupansuebsai, a preseason Golfweek third-team All-American, tied for 31st at the Maui Jim Invite at 4-under 206, highlighted by a 3-under 67 in the final round.
Sugimoto tied for 46th at the MJI, just getting under par at 1-under 209. Sugimoto's best round was the second on Sept. 11 when he shot a 4-under 66.
Koeneke will be playing for the first time this season after recording a 72.89 stroke average in 2021. Koeneke earned medalist honors as an individual at the 2021 UC San Diego Invitational, March 22-23, at 2-over 218, going 70, 73 and 75.
The host Huskies won the last iteration of the Husky Invitational on Sept. 17, 2019, when the tournament was limited to two rounds (and one day) because of stormy conditions. SDSU came in sixth in that rain-shortened tournament at 3-under 573. Anupansuebsai tied for 13th out of 77 players in the 2019 event at 2-under 142, while Zihao Jin (Beijing/Rancho Bernardo HS) was the only other current San Diego State player to compete, carding a 1-over 145. The Aztecs also played at Gold Mountain Golf Club in 2018 for the MW Championship, where they landed in the eighth position. Anupansuebsai tied for 27th in that event as a freshman at 9-over 225.
Five other SDSU golfers - senior Joey Moore (Billings, Mont.), sophomores Jackson Moss (San Diego/Point Loma HS) and Skyler Ngo (Las Vegas/Bishop Gorman HS), and freshmen Justin Hastings (Grand Caymen, Cayman Islands) and Jack Townsend (San Diego/Charter School of San Diego) will also be in action at Gold Mountain G.C., but on the Cascade course competing as individuals.
Following the Husky Invitational, San Diego State next competes in TCU's Colonial Collegiate Invitational, Oct. 4-5, in Fort Worth, Texas.