Well, Aztecs, its spring semester and that means golf season is in full swing (pun intended). This year’s squad comes into the season with high expectations. It was preseason ranked 21st in the country by Golfweek before the fall season and is in contention to win in every tournament it enters this season in the spring.
Senior Xander Schauffele leads a team that is very deep from top to bottom with teammates, such as sophomore Ricky DeSantis and junior Riccardo Michelini, all expect to play important roles for the team as well.
Last season the Aztecs never quite lived up to the talent the roster had on paper. The team had strong individual performances from Schauffele and Michelini, who both placed first in an event in 2013-14 season. But the team as a whole struggled, compiling only five top-five finishes in 12 cracks at tournament play. The team highlights of last season had to be finishing second in the Mountain West Championship and a top-five finish in the Western Intercollegiate Tournament.
The Aztecs looked impressive in the fall to start the season off strong. Schauffele posted an impressive 4-under 212 to finish second place in the Husky Invitational at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington. As a team, San Diego State placed third out of 15, finishing only behind University of California, Los Angeles and University Oregon who tied for first place.
Also in fall play, SDSU again finished in third place at the William H. Tucker Invitational in New Mexico. It was also no coincidence that Schauffele once again had the best individual performance on the team placing fourth at 3-under 213.
In more recent tournament play, the Aztecs finished in sixth place out of 16 teams at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in the Fairfax, California. This time Michelini shot the best out of all the Aztecs, finishing in fourth place with a 4-under 209.
One of the most positive aspects about this year’s team is that it returns eight of the 12 players from last year’s team. One of the players returning is senior James Holley who is a two-year varsity letterman for the Aztecs and earned a spot on the MW all-academic team last spring as a junior.
“We are excited for the second half of our season,”Holley said. “We have our first tournament at Barona Creek Golf Club Feb. 9 and 10. The last time we held this tournament was three years ago and we beat a good field including USC and TCU.”
The Aztecs are currently ranked 37th in Golfweek, but could make a major leap in the rankings if they can win like they did just three years ago at Barona Creek Golf Club.
