Aztecs Set for Western Intercollegiate

SAN DIEGO -- In its final tune-up before attempting to win its fourth consecutive Mountain West championship, the San Diego State men’s golf team heads to the Western Intercollegiate Monday on the historic par-70, 6,486-yard Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California. The tournament will feature 18 holes apiece on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Aztecs are one of 14 teams competing at the Western Intercollegiate and the top-ranked team in the field at No. 18. Also in the field is No. 21 Arizona, No. 22 Pepperdine, No. 29 Brigham Young, No. 34 UNLV, No. 36 Oregon, No. 42 Stanford, California, Hawai’i, San Jose State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, UC Irvine and Washington, and Nihon University from Tokyo, Japan.

The Western Intercollegiate will air live on the GOLF Channel from 4-7 p.m. PT each day.

San Diego State is coming off a tied for ninth-place finish at Pauma Valley Invitational in Pauma Valley, California, from March 17-18.  

The Western Intercollegiate is a six-count-five event, as opposed to the usual five-count-four event. Head coach Ryan Donovan going with the lineup of senior Justin Hastings (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), freshman Harry Takis (Brisbane Australia), junior Chanachon Chokprajakchat (Bangkok, Thailand), junior Tyler Kowack (San Diego/Canyon Crest Academy), sophomore Dylan Oyama (Carlsbad, California) and sophomore Nathan Sampson (Temecula, Calif.).

For the season, Hastings leads the team with a 70.54 scoring average and is fresh off posting the low amateur total at the Masters this past weekend. Hastings is followed by Chokprajakchat (71.67), Takis (71.77), Kowack (72.44) and Oyama (72.80).

Entering its 78th year, the Western Intercollegiate 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 14th consecutive appearance, but just its 15th since 2001. San Diego State finished seventh out of 14 teams at last year’s tournament at 18-over 1,068.

Hastings tied for second at last year’s event at 3-under 207, while Chokprajakchat tied for fourth (-2) and Kowack tied for 57th (+11). Neither of SDSU’s other three golfers in the lineup competed at last year’s event.

Lars Johansson is the most recent SDSU 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 (1985), Arron Oberholser (1996), Joel Kribel (1997, 1999), Jason Allred (2000) and Scottie Scheffler (2015).

Stanford (+8) took home the team title in 2024, while Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik captured medalist honors at -4.

The Western Intercollegiate is SDSU’s final event before the Mountain West Championship, set for April 25-27 at Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Oregon.