SDSU Set for NCAA Norman Regional

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men's golf team continues postseason play Monday at the NCAA Norman Regional in Norman, Oklahoma. The Aztecs, who are making their 22nd regional appearance in the last 23 tournaments, will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, slated for May 21-June 1, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

SDSU earned the No. 8 seed out of 13 teams in the Norman Regional, earning an automatic bid after winning the Mountain West Championship its last time out, April 29-May 1, on the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington. Norman, Oklahoma (Oklahoma) is one of six regional tournaments that will also be played concurrently in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (Florida Atlantic), Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State), Stockton, California (Pacific), Bryan, Texas (Texas A&M) and New Haven, Connecticut (Yale).

San Diego State is ranked 44th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin ratings (May 8) and 48th in the latest Golfstat rankings (May 8). Joining the Aztecs at the par-72, 7,452-yard Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club will be eight other teams ranked in the Golfstat top 50, including Oklahoma (1), Texas (7), Auburn (18), South Carolina (24), Ole Miss (25), Louisville (36), Missouri (37) and Utah (50). Also in the field is Kent State (62), Kansas State (64), UT Martin (185) and Rider (247), along with five individuals. The top-five squads and lowest individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to Scottsdale. 

Teams will complete 18 holes (54 total) of stroke play each of the three days following a practice round on Sunday. SDSU is paired with Missouri and Utah for Monday's first round, which is set to begin on the first tee at 8:55 a.m. CT (6:55 a.m. PT), while starting times for Tuesday and Wednesday will be determined by team finishes. 

Live hole-by-hole results courtesy of Golfstat will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com.

San Diego State head coach Ryan Donovan will take the same six golfers he took to the MW Championship, including seniors Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS), Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), Zihao Jin (Beijing/Rancho Bernardo HS) and Steve Sugimoto (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS), and freshman Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands). Freshman Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS), meanwhile, will once again serve as an alternate.

The Aztecs have experience at Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club, as they took 10th at the 2018 Norman Regional at 6-over 870 with three straight 2-over 290s. Sugimoto (T-29th, +2) and Anupansuebsai (T-59th, +11) played in the 2018 regional for SDSU.

Anupansuebsai claimed medalist honors at 8-under 205 at last year's NCAA Kingston Regional as San Diego State finished third to easily qualify for Scottsdale. Guezzale tied for fourth out of 75 golfers at last year's regional at 5-under 208, while current Aztecs Jin (T-41st, +6) and Sugimoto (T-53rd, +9) also competed in Tennessee.

Jin leads SDSU on the season with a 71.71 stroke average, followed by Anupansuebsai (72.20), Guezzale (72.39), Sugimoto (72.52), Lague (73.10) and Hastings (73.17).

Since the NCAA regional format was adopted in 1989, San Diego State has received a bid on 25 occasions, including a streak of 20 straight from 1999 to 2018. This season marks the third straight regional appearance in the Central time zone and fourth overall (also 2014 in Columbia, Missouri).

The Aztecs has advanced through regional competition into the national championship series on nine occasions, highlighted by a team title at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club in 2011, where the Scarlet and Black posted the program's lowest combined score in regional play with a 19-under 833 en route to a seven-stroke victory.

The following season at Stanford Golf Course in 2012, SDSU turned in a second-place finish, with two-time All-American J.J. Spaun setting three team regional records, including lowest score (12-under 198), lowest round (7-under 63) and best individual finish (2nd).

San Diego State also landed in the runner-up spot at the New Haven Regional in 2015, where four players finished among the individual top 25, including former Aztec All-American Xander Schauffele, who tied for fifth at 3-under 207.

In 2016, SDSU added one of the most dramatic performances to the program's postseason lore after defeating Texas A&M on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to secure the Albuquerque Regional's fifth and final spot at the NCAA Championships. On the first playoff hole, former U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang holed out for a double-eagle with a 7-iron from 218 yards away, while Ryann Ree made an eagle of his own as San Diego State topped the Aggies by three strokes (-5 to -2) on the par-5, 544-yard No. 1.

Then last year the Aztecs led through two rounds and finished third at the NCAA Kingston Regional thanks to Anupansuebsai's individual win.

SDSU is 3-7 on the season against teams in the NCAA Norman Regional, including 1-0 marks against both Louisville and Utah. San Diego State also has a head-to-head win over Texas (1-3), and is 0-1 against Auburn and Missouri, and 0-2 against top-seeded Oklahoma.

The rich heritage of the grounds of the Jimmie Austin Golf Club at Oklahoma dates back to the early 1940s, when the land was home to a U.S. Navy recreational facility. Situated on what was once called the Navy Air Technical Training Center, NATTC or more simply "South Base", the facility served as an annex to the Norman Naval Air Station located north of town at what is now Max Westheimer Airport. In 1949, in coordination with the Navy and with the leadership of OU President George Lynn Cross, construction began on the OU Golf Course. At that time, famous golf course architect and native Oklahoman Perry Maxwell was commissioned to build the project, and in January 1951 the course opened for play. In 1996, an extensive renovation of the course was completed. World-renowned course architect Robert Cupp was chosen for the redesign, which remained true to features envisioned by Maxwell some 50 years earlier. Working with Tripp Davis, golf course, the club completed major renovations to the course, infrastructure and facilities in 2017.

The Jimmy Austin Golf Club has also played host to the 1997 Oklahoma State Amateur and NCAA Regional, the Big 12 Women's Championship in 1998 and 2010, and most notably the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 2009. The course hosted the 2013 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship and NCAA Regional Championships in 2012, 2018, 2022 (men's) and 2013, 2019 (women's) and is already scheduled to host more NCAA Regional Championships in 2023, and 2025.