| GOAZTECS.COM | WEB |
|
|
Aztec Men's Golf Opens NCAA Regional Action Thursday
May 16, 2005 SAN DIEGO - Complete Release in PDF Format
SDSU Gains Seventh Straight NCAA Regional Bid "We have a lot of confidence going back to Stanford where we played just a couple of weeks ago," head coach Ryan Donovan said. "We don't need to do anything fancy. If we play our game we are capable of returning to the national tournament this year." SDSU is among 81 NCAA Division I schools selected to play in one of three regional tournaments. The other regionals will take place concurrently in South Bend, Ind. (Central Regional) and Nashville, Tenn. (East Regional) and will also include 27 teams and six individual qualifiers each. The tournament consists of 54 holes over a three-day period with 18 holes played each day. The top 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals. SDSU will be paired with UC Riverside and St. Mary's for the first two rounds. The teams will begin at the first tee at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday and will start at the 10th tee at 8:42 a.m. on Friday. Saturday's final round tee times will be based on the team standings through the first 36 holes. The Aztecs are looking to return to the national championships for the 18th time in school history and third time since the regional format began in 1989, having advanced out of regional play in both 1999 and 2003. The 2005 national championship will be held June 1-4 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
The Upperclassmen: Aztec Line-Up For This Week While all five SDSU players are upperclassmen, only two have previous experience at the NCAA regional. Choi tied for 65th with a 13-over 229 in 2003, but dropped in the standings a year later, coming in tied for 94th at 16-over 232. The only other Aztec with regional experience is Scott, who tied for 62nd at 10-over 226 in 2004.
The Competition Besides the MWC teams, SDSU will face competition from 11 different conferences with the most coming from the Pac-10 (seven teams) and the SEC (three teams). The Aztecs have played all but eight of the 26 other teams in the west regional field in 2004-05, and hold winning or even head-to-head records over 10 of them. Against the 80 total schools in the three regionals, SDSU is 26-20 this season. Individually, the NCAA west regional boasts the top two ranked players in the country in UNLV's Ryan Moore and New Mexico's Spencer Levin, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. On Course
SDSU In The NCAA Regional Tournament The Aztecs have finished in the top 10 on three occasions with their best performance coming in 1999, when the team placed fifth with an 875. The lowest team score in regional competition for SDSU came in its first appearance in 1990 with an 871. Individually, eighth is the highest individual finish by an Aztec in 1999 (James Stewart), 2002 (Mark Warman) and 2003 (Brian Miller). Kevin Riley boasts the SDSU record for lowest 54-hole score of 212 in 1990. Magnus Carlsson shot a 6-under 66 in 1999, which is the best round ever by an Aztec at an NCAA regional.
Rewind: SDSU In The 2004 NCAA Regionals The 309, on the heels of rounds of 287 and 296, left San Diego State with a 28-over-par 892, good for 13th place in the 27-team field. The Aztecs were just three spots shy of qualifying for the NCAA championships, which took the top 10 teams in each of the three regional tournaments. UCLA won the regional with a one-over par 865 to edge New Mexico by one shot. Encinitas freshman Aaron Goldberg led the Aztecs with a three-round total of 218, two shots over par, tying for 18th place among 140 golfers. He shot a 76 in the final 18 holes after opening the tournament with rounds of 69 and 73.
NCAA West Championship Results
Last Time Out: MWC Championships The Aztecs ended the 54-hole tournament at 11-over-par. New Mexico claimed the team title with a three-round score of 8-under-par. UNLV finished in second place three shots back, followed by Brigham Young, which was five shots behind the Lobos. SDSU took fourth place with a comfortable 11-stroke advantage over fifth-place Colorado State. Wyoming, Utah and Air Force rounded out the team standings. Individually, Aztec junior Josh Warthen recorded his first top 10 finish of the season. He shot a 75 in the final 18 holes and ended the championships at 2-over-par and tied for ninth place. Warthen, who started the final round in a third place tie, finished 10 strokes behind the individual medalist, Brigham Young's Nick Becker. Senior Linus Nilsson ended the tournament in a tie for 12th at 3-over-par, while senior Aaron Choi and junior Andrew Scott were both 6-over par in the three-day event. Gilberto Rodriguez rounded out the Aztec line-up with a 54-hole total of 9-over-par. San Diego State's team total of 875 is the fifth-lowest total for an Aztec team at a 54-hole conference tournament.
Choi, Scott Honored Choi and Scott are one-two in stroke average for the Aztecs so far this season and have finished in the top 10 in a tournament four times apiece. The honor is the first for both, while two SDSU golfers have been named to the all-MWC in the same season twice prior in 2002 and 2003.
Up Next The Aztecs have participated in the NCAA championships 23 times in program history with the most recent coming in 2003, in Stillwater, Okla.
Head Coach Ryan Donovan Prior to taking over the program, Donovan served as the SDSU assistant golf coach. From 1997 to 2001 Donovan also was a four-year member of the Aztec golf team. The most successful season of his collegiate career was in 2000, when he recorded five top-30 finishes.
|
 |
