After entering this season as the sixth-ranked team in the country, the San Diego State men’s golf team seemed primed to make waves on a national scale this year.
However, things haven’t gone as the team and its fans had hoped or expected thus far, as the Aztecs haven’t performed to potential through their first three tournaments of the season, placing third twice and fourth once.
Despite having three players named to the Golf World 50 Men’s College Players to Watch prior to the beginning of the year in Todd Baek, J.J. Spaun and Alex Kang, none have seriously contended for an individual title in a tournament this year. While sophomore Baek has two top five finishes to his name this year and Kang has one, neither have been closer than Baek was at The Prestige at PGA West, where he trailed individual champion Cheng-Tsung Pan by five strokes.
The Prestige also featured inconsistency the likes of which has plagued SDSU throughout the course of the first three tournaments, as Baek and Kang turned in scores of 10 and 9 under par, respectively. However, Wilson Bateman, Matt Hoffenberg and Spaun rounded out the Aztec starting five with a combined score of 7-over par, each shooting well above their season averages.
While the Aztecs have faced some stiff competition in all of their tournaments thus far including Stanford and Oregon, who are two of the top-ranked teams in the country, they have seen their national ranking slide from sixth to 23rd.
Although SDSU has yet to place in the top four of tournament play, it is a somewhat disappointing start after last season in which they won seven tournaments — second only to last year’s consensus No. 1 Oklahoma State.
“We have been in contention to win two out of the three events we’ve played, but have just made too many mistakes,” head coach Ryan Donovan said. “We’ve got to become more disciplined with our course management decisions. We have four months to prepare before spring, and expect to come out strong.”
Expect the Aztecs to be prepared for the San Diego Intercollegiate Classic, their next scheduled tournament, which will mark the beginning of their spring schedule. The Aztecs will host at the San Diego Country Club on Feb. 13 and 14.
