The San Diego State men's golf team has one final test left before the postseason, playing Saturday-Sunday at the U.S. Intercollegiate in Stanford, Calif. Hosted by Stanford and played on the par-71, 6,786-yard Stanford Golf Course, the U.S. Intercollegiate contains a balanced and predominately West coast 17-team field against which the Aztec lineup has one final audition before the May 1-3 Mountain West Championship.
The Team Focus...
Making up the U.S. Intercollegiate field are seven top-50 teams, including the Aztecs (No. 34 Golfweek/No. 37 Golfstat). The rankings-based tournament favorites would have to be No. 8/6 Oklahoma State and No. 11/5 UCLA. However, the Bruins are coming off a last-place finish and head-to-head loss to SDSU at the 19-team ASU Thunderbird Invitational last week. Though not among the top 50, No. 75/59 Stanford, which finished second last year, has to be considered among the favorites while playing on its home course.
U.S. Intercollegiate Field 4/14 4/16 SDSU Record
Team Rankings Golfweek Golfstat vs. In 02-03
San Diego State 34 37
California 37 31 2-1
Fresno State 39 36 1-2
Long Beach State 96 99 1-0
Oklahoma State 8 6 1st meeting
Oregon 50 47 2-1
Pacific 87 81 2-0
Portland 146 123 2-0
San Diego 118 125 1st meeting
San Francisco 143 119 3-0
San Jose State 92 96 3-1
Santa Clara 121 141 1-0
Stanford 75 59 1-2
Texas A&M 56 51 2-1
UC Irvine 31 28 1st meeting
UCLA 11 5 1-2
Washington State 86 82 3-3
SDSU has faced 13 of the 16 other teams in the field and boasts at least one head-to-head victory over each of those teams. The teams the Aztecs are facing for the first time are notable: No. 8/6 Oklahoma State (the highest-ranked team in the field), No. 31/28 UC Irvine (third-highest ranked team) and No. 118/125 San Diego (cross-town rival coming off a seventh-place finish at the West Coast Conference Championship). In total, the Aztecs boast a 24-13 record against the rest of the field.
SDSU took ninth at last year's U.S. Intercollegiate, sliding three spots from the second round after shooting a final-round 295 to finish at 26-over 878. USC, which is not participating this season, was the only team to finish under-par last year while taking the team title at 4-under 848. Stanford was 10 shots back at 6-over 858.
...And The Individual Spotlight
The Aztec lineup will made up of the squad's top five scorers this season, led by senior Lars Johansson (No. 130 Golfweek) and his team-low 72.39 scoring average. Despite being the team leader in scoring for the year, Johansson's 72.33 spring average is only third on the team for the second season behind No. 199 senior John Lieber (71.75) and No. 182 junior Mark Warman (72.27).
SDSU's individuals will be tested by a pair of Hogan Award semifinalists who are two of the nation's top five rated players according to Golfweek (No. 2 Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State and No. 5 Nick Watney of Fresno State). Mahan, fresh off a 28th-place performance at the Masters, will also be competing against U.S. Palmer Cup teammate No. 31 Peter Tomasulo of California, who shared medalist honors at SDSU's Barona Collegiate Cup in the fall with Aztec John Lepak. Watney also played at Barona and had his streak of four consecutive titles snapped as he finished in ninth, tying with SDSU's Aaron Choi. In all, 37 of the nation's top 250 players come from teams in the U.S. Intercollegiate field, including six of the top 50.
Last Week At The ASU Thunderbird
The Aztecs registered their third-best score of the season in relation to par (852, -12) at the April 11-12 ASU Thunderbird Invitational, but it was not enough as SDSU took 12th place in the nationally competitive field of 19. The Thunderbird field included nine top-30 teams and five from the top 10, and SDSU was able to pick up head-to-head wins over then-No. 10/5 UCLA and MWC rival No. 17/18 New Mexico.
Senior John Lieber continued his steady play in the spring, taking 11th place at 8-under 208. He now has three top-20 results in four spring starts. Senior Brian Miller produced his best score of the season at 3-under 213 and sophomore Aaron Choi (T-53rd, 216) reached par for the first time this season in the starting lineup.
Around The Green
The defeat of New Mexico in Tempe gives SDSU a 2-1-1 head-to-head record against the Lobos. UNM was ranked No. 1 in the Southwest District 7 by Golfweek on March 30, while the Aztecs were No. 2.
The JV team update: Sophomore Gilberto Rodriguez claimed his first collegiate title at the April 15-16 Wyoming Cowboy Classic at Talking Stick-North in Scottsdale, Ariz. Rodriguez shot 73-71-70 for a 4-over total of 214 on the par-70, 7,133-yard course to take a three-shot win over Brady Stockton of ASU's JV team. Redshirt freshman Andrew Scott (4th, 218, +8) and senior Charlie Smith (T-7th, 220, +10) also claimed top-10 finishes.
Rodriguez's victory is further evidence that SDSU boasts perhaps the deepest team in the country. All 10 players on the Aztec roster have now recorded at least one top-five finish this season, and SDSU individuals possess 35 top-20s in 14 total events (including five in which the JV team competed).
THIS WEEK'S EVENT
U.S. Intercollegiate
Hosted by: Stanford Site: Stanford Golf Course - Stanford, Calif. Dates: Apr. 19-20 Par: 71 Yardage: 6,786 The Field: SDSU, California, Fresno St., Long Beach St., Oklahoma St., Oregon, Pacific, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose St., Santa Clara, Stanford, Texas A&M, UC Irvine, UCLA, Washington St. 2002 Team Champion: USC (848, -4) 2002 Medalist: Philip Rowe, Stanford (205, -8)
Golfweek/Sagarin (4/14)
1. Clemson
2. Wake Forest
3. Texas
4. Augusta State
5. TCU
6. Arizona
7. UNLV
8. Oklahoma State
9. Florida
10. North Carolina
34. San Diego State
GCAA Poll (4/9)
1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma State
3. Arizona
4. Augusta State
5. Wake Forest
6. Texas
7. UNLV
8. TCU
9. Florida
10. UCLA
arv. San Diego State
Golfstat (4/16)
1. Clemson
2. Augusta State
3. TCU
4. Texas
5. UCLA
6. Oklahoma State
7. Arizona
8. Wake Forest
9. Florida
10. UNLV
37. San Diego State
Golf World Poll (4/11)
1. Clemson
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma State
4. Wake Forest
5. UNLV
6. TCU
7. Arizona
8. Augusta State
9. Florida
10. UCLA
