The No. 22 Aztecs ventured to the Southern Highlands Collegiate with hopes of bringing Southern Highlands Golf Club to its knees.
SDSU was without star senior Justin Hastings as he prepared for the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. His absence leaves big shoes to fill for his senior counterpart Shea Lague.
Sunday’s opening round brought pervasive winds, making Robert Trent Jones’ challenging masterpiece even harder. If success was going to be in the Aztecs’ future, ball striking and accuracy off of the tee had to be at the top of their list.
Lague was unable to answer the bell in round one, carding 11 bogeys or worse and only one birdie (11-over 83).
While birdies were at a premium on Sunday, avoiding bogeys was the real challenge. With the prevalence of the wind on every golfer’s mind, focusing on making a precise golf shot became increasingly difficult.
Junior Tyler Kowack led SDSU in the opening round with a one-under 71 consisting of three birdies and only two bogeys. With Hastings being out of the country, Kowack will need to continue to fire at pins if both he and his team want any chance of hoisting the trophy.
The other three counting scores for the Aztecs came via junior Chanachon Chokprajakchat, sophomore Dylan Oyama and freshman Harry Takis.
The Southern Highlands Collegiate is Oyama’s first team event of his redshirt sophomore season. His only other appearance this year was as an individual at the Preserve Golf Club Collegiate, where he finished in a tie for 21st place.
The tough playing conditions got to Oyama as he battled for a five-over-par 77. His card was plagued by three bogeys and a double bogey.
Chokprajakchat and Takis signed for a 77 and 78, respectively. The only birdie between the two was courtesy of Chokprajakchat on hole three.
After Sunday’s preliminary round, the Aztecs were 16 shots off of the lead. Also, the wind expected to carry over into Monday. Round two provided SDSU the chance to implement the lessons they learned from round one and improve their scores.
When the dust settled Monday afternoon, there were no Aztecs in red numbers.
The rounds of the day were provided by Chokprajakchat and Oyama (three-over 75). They had two birdies each, all occurring on the front nine. Chokprajakchat and Oyama could not continue their initial success as the ever-present breeze firmed up Southern Highlands’ final nine holes.
Kowack, Lague and Takis could not conquer the elements, carding 77, 77 and 78, respectively.
Including Chokprajakchat and Oyama’s four birdies, the Aztecs barely cracked double-digit birdies as a team (10 total). The four counting scores consisted of nine birdies, but also 20 bogeys or worse. 16-over was SDSU’s round two team score, pushing them back to 33 shots off the top spot.
Tuesday’s round three action brought sunny skies and minimal wind. Perfect scoring conditions graced Southern Highlands Golf Club, as well as the Scarlet and Black.
The Aztecs’ worst counting score was Kowack’s one-over 73. His two-over front nine was negated by a strong one-under finish.
The freshman Takis carried the bulk of the work for SDSU in the final round. He signed for a two-under 70 consisting of six birdies and four bogeys.
Chokprajakchat fired a 72 and Lague carded a 71 to round out the Aztecs’ counting scores on Tuesday. The tandem combined for 10 birdies and eight bogeys or worse.
SDSU came to play in the final round as they finished play with a two-under team effort.
The young guns, Oyama (T-54 11-over) and Takis (T-47 10-over) showed great prowess in Las Vegas, hopefully signs of things to come in the future.
The elder trio of Chokprajakchat (T-34 eight-over), Lague (T-75 15-over) and Kowack (T-21 five-over) kept the Aztecs’ ship afloat despite the treacherous playing conditions. While there were some inconsistencies, the ability to bounce back and stay composed over the course of three rounds proved beneficial, especially in round three.
SDSU finished in 11th place at 29-over-par (893) for the tournament. The Aztecs were second in par-4 scoring for the tournament, averaging 4.07 strokes per par-4 (11-over total). They also were tied for eighth place in total birdies (39).
No. 2 Auburn snagged the top spot at the Southern Highlands Collegiate (nine-under 855). The Tigers were the only team under-par in all three rounds, hence their victory.
UNLV’s Caden Fioroni accrued the individual title on home turf, carding a nine-under 207 for the tournament.
The Aztecs will tee it up next on Monday at the San Diego Lamkin Invitational hosted by San Diego Country Club.
