Aztecs Begin Season with Back-to-Back Tournaments

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State men’s golf team kicks off a busy September with back-to-back tournaments, beginning with the Sahalee Players Championship, Sept. 12-13, in Sammamish, Washington. The Aztecs will then fly home on Sunday night to play in San Diego’s Vuori Invitational, Sept. 14-15, in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

This is believed to be the first time SDSU has played consecutive tournaments with the same starting five without a day off in between.

The Sahalee Players Championship, hosted by Washington, will take place at the Sahalee Country Club. The 54-hole event will be contested over two days with two rounds slated for Saturday and the final round set Sunday on the par-72, 7,003-yard layout.

San Diego State, which is receiving votes in the preseason Bushnell/Golfweek DI Collegiate Poll, will be joined in the 12-team field by No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Pepperdine, No. 14 UCLA, Duke, California and the host Huskies.

The Aztecs are scheduled to tee off at 7:58 a.m. PT from the 10th tee along with Arizona and California. Sunday’s round will also go off with split tees beginning at 7 a.m. PT, based on scores from the first two rounds.

Now in his 24th season at the helm of the Aztecs, head coach Ryan Donovan has penciled in the lineup of junior Harry Takis (Brisbane, Australia), freshman Brayden Forte (Aurora, Colo.), junior Lequan Wang (San Mateo, Calif./UC Davis), sophomore Beau Sahr (Eagle, Idaho) and junior Kai Hirayama (Arcadia, Calif.). Additionally, freshman Miles Kuhl (Boulder, Colo.) will be competing as an individual.

Takis is coming off arguably the best season in program history. Takis, who finished as the sixth-ranked player in the country in the final Scoreboard powered by clippd computer ratings, was named a PING first-team All-American and Golfweek first-team All-American, the first Aztec to earn first-team All-America honors since Greg Twiggs in 1983 and the sixth overall. He was also a PING All-West Region selection, a GCAA All-West Region pick, the Mountain West Golfer of the Year, and a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award. A two-time MW Golfer of the Week last season, Takis also represented the Internationals at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup in July where they defeated Team USA, 30.5-29.5.

Takis finished the 2025-26 campaign with a 69.23 scoring average over 30 rounds, more than a stroke better than Shea Lague’s previous school record set in 2022-23. Out of 10 tournaments on the season, he had a victory, two runner-up finishes, two third-place efforts, five top-5 showings, six top-10s and nine finishes in the top 20. Takis had 17 rounds in the 60s. Through two seasons, Takis has a 70.29 scoring average, which is tops in SDSU recorded history.

Forte and Kuhl will be making their collegiate debut this weekend, while Wang is making his San Diego State debut after spending the last two seasons at UC Davis, including last season when he averaged 71.7 across 32 rounds. Hirayama (73.03) and Sahr (75.00) are each entering their second season on The Mesa, and ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, on the team last year.

This is the second time the Aztecs are competing at the Sahalee Players Championship after tying for fifth out of a loaded 12-team field at least year’s event. Takis tied for second overall out of 72 golfers at 2-under 214. Hirayama was the only other SDSU athlete still on the team who competed last year as he tied for 41st at +11.  

Inaugurated in 1992, the Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) was created to bring the best male amateur golfers in the world to compete at Sahalee on an annual basis. Between 1992 and 2019, Sahalee hosted the SPC on 26 occasions as an independently run elite amateur tournament. The fields of players were amazing, crowning many elite champions, including Sahith Theegala, Nick Taylor, Ryan Moore and Jason Gore. In addition, Sahalee’s fairways were graced by some of today’s top players, such as: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Kurt Kitayama, Ryan Fox, and Min Woo Lee.

In 1996, noted golf course architect Rees Jones oversaw the redesign and renovations of the bunkers and many key features of the North and South courses. Similar work was completed on the East course after the 1998 PGA Championship. With the success of the 1998 PGA Championship, support from the community and the state, and the tremendous praise from the players and the PGA, Sahalee has begun a new chapter in an increasingly rich golf tradition. Sahalee has hosted the NEC World Golf Championship in 2002, the USGA Senior Open in 2010, and hosted the 2016 and 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championships. The intention of its founders to create a championship-caliber course and reputation has been realized. Sahalee has been elevated to greatness as the high heavenly ground of Northwest golf.

The same lineup will be in play for the Vuori Invitational, Sept. 14-15, at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in nearby Rancho Santa Fe, California.

No. 10 Arkansas and No. 23 Brigham Young highlight the 12-team field, which also includes tournament host USD, SDSU, Colorado, Colorado State, Long Beach State, Oregon, Pacific, San Jose State, Tulsa and USC.

Other tournament information, including tee times, are not yet available as of press time.

Nestled in the center of the historic and prestigious community of Rancho Santa Fe, the Max Behr designed Rancho Santa Fe golf course first opened in 1929 and is the original home of the Crosby Clambake. It has been recognized as one of the top 100 walking courses in America and described by a number of golf course architects as a rare blend of challenge and playability.

Following the Vuori Invitational, San Diego State closes its fall campaign at New Mexico’s William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, Sept. 25-26, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.