Aztecs Set for NCAA Salem Regional

SAN DIEGO -- Fresh off winning its second straight Mountain West Championship, the San Diego State men's golf team continues postseason play Monday at the NCAA Salem Regional in Salem, South Carolina. The Aztecs, who are making their 23rd regional appearance in the last 24 tournaments, will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, slated for May 26-31, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

SDSU received the No. 4 seed out of 14 teams in the Salem Regional after earning an automatic bid into the regional for winning the Mountain West Championship last weekend in Tucson, Arizona, shattering the tournament record with a 60-under-par 804 to win by a championship-record 25 strokes over runner-up New Mexico. It was San Diego State's second straight league title and third tournament win of the season. Salem, South Carolina (Clemson) is one of six regional tournaments that will also be played concurrently in Auburn, Alabama (Auburn), East Lansing, Michigan (Michigan State), Norman, Oklahoma (Oklahoma), Morgan Hill, California (San Jose State) and Las Vegas (UNLV).

San Diego State is ranked 23rd in the latest Golfstat rankings (May 3). Joining the Aztecs at the par-72, 7,126-yard The Cliffs at Keowee Falls will be seven others in the Golfstat top 50, including North Carolina (2), Georgia Tech (11), Texas A&M (14), Georgia Southern (26), Arkansas (35), Purdue (38) and New Mexico (47). Others in the field include host Clemson (54), Furman (58), Middle Tennessee (64), Northern Illinois (127), Long Island (186) and Longwood (201). The top-five squads and lowest individual not on those teams from the Salem 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 Georgia Southern and Arkansas for Monday's first round, which is set to begin on the 10th tee at 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 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 and 2023 MW Coach of the Year Ryan Donovan will take the same six golfers he took to the MW Championship, including sophomore Shea Lague (Jamul, Calif./Steele Canyon HS), sophomore Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), freshman Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, Calif./Pacific Ridge HS), senior Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS) and freshman Tyler Kowack (Del Mar, Calif./La Jolla HS). Freshman Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand) will once again serve as an alternate.

The Aztecs have won three team championships on the season, claiming New Mexico's William H. Tucker Intercollegiate (Sept. 23-24) at 16-under 848, the Wyoming Cowboy Classic (April 3-4) title for a third straight year at 7-under 857 and the MW Championship (April 28-30) for a second straight year at 60-under 804. According to GolfStat, SDSU's 282.65 stroke average so far this season is the best in program history, while at the MW Championship San Diego State set program lows for a 54-hole score (804) and 18-hole score (260 in the final round).

Guezzale has the most postseason experience on the team, tying for fourth at the NCAA Kingston Springs Regional in 2021 at 5-under 208 and tying for 52nd at last year's NCAA Norman Regional at 9-over 225. Hastings is the only other Aztec who has played in a regional as the team's top finisher in Norman in a tie for 17th at 1-under 215.

Lague leads SDSU with a 70.30 stroke average this season through 33 rounds, or 44-under par. Out of his 11 tournaments, he has three top-5s, five top-10s and nine top-20s. Lague's 23 rounds below par are seven more than the next San Diego State player on the team. According to GolfStat, which as him ranked 46th in the country, Lague's 70.30 scoring average ranks second in Aztec single-season history behind former Aztec great Puwit Anupansuebsai, a four-time all-MW pick.

Hastings is ranked second on the team with a 70.76 scoring average (-29). Hastings has two top-5s, three top-10s and six top-20s out of the 11 tournaments he's competed in. Tied with Lague for the most rounds in the 60s (11) and ranked 109th by GolfStat, his 70.76 scoring average ranks fifth in SDSU single-season history (according to GolfStat).

Oyama ranks third on the team with a 71.67 stroke average over 33 rounds and most recently captured medalist honors at the MW Championship. Oyama, the MW Freshman of the Year, won the MW Championship at 19-under 197, blitzing the Catalina Course with a 10-under 62 in the final round to force a playoff. The 62 was the lowest score in MW Championship history and tied for the lowest in SDSU recorded history. Facing Colorado State's Christoph Bleier, who shot a final-round 63 of his own, in a playoff, Oyama parred the par-4, 470-yard 18th, while Bleier bogeyed it, giving Oyama his first collegiate victory. Oyama and Bleier's 19-under 197 set a 54-hole championship record by three strokes, while Oyama's score matched Alex Kang (2010 Alister MacKenzie Invitational) for the lowest 54-hole score in San Diego State recorded history.

Guezzale ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 72.44 with a pair of top-10s, while Kowack (72.54) and Chokprajakchat (72.67) are fifth and sixth, respectively.

Since the NCAA regional format was adopted in 1989, San Diego State has received a bid on 26 occasions, including a streak of 20 straight from 1999 to 2018. This season marks the first trip to the Eastern Time Zone since competing at The Course at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, from May 14-16. The Aztecs took second in the regional that year led by current PGA Tour star Xander Schauffele, who tied for fifth at 3-under 207. That result qualified SDSU for the NCAA Championship in Bradenton, Florida, where it came in 15th place.

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).

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.

Last year the Aztecs came in eighth and did not advance to the NCAA Championships, although a third-place finish the year before in Kingston, Tennessee, advanced SDSU to Scottsdale where it finished 25th.

SDSU is 6-8-1 on the season against teams in the NCAA Salem Regional, including a 4-3-1 record against New Mexico, and 1-0 marks vs. Clemson and Northern Illinois. San Diego State is also 0-2 against Georgia Tech and Texas A&M, and 0-1 vs. North Carolina.

The layout at Keowee Falls is everything you could want from a championship golf course. Falls Creek meanders throughout the Jack Nicklaus Signature design and water comes into play on 12 of the 18 holes. Nicklaus provides ample landing areas from the teeing grounds, and well positioned drives set you up for fun, but calculated approach shots to the greens. Great scores on this golf course require a strong short game with a creative mind to use the contours on the greens to the player's advantage.