San Diego State probably wouldn’t be your pick among the contenders heading into the final round to come out on top in the Southwestern Invitational, which wrapped up Wednesday at North Ranch Country Club in unusually chilly conditions in Westlake Village, Calif.
I only looked in briefly to The Golf Channel’s coverage of the final round of the Southwestern, but cold-weather gear was very much in evidence. Didn’t the San Diego State kids go to San Diego State to avoid that kind of weather?
The Aztecs, though, proved to be as gnarly as the weather as they were the only team in a strong 12-team field to break 300 in the final round over the 6,992-yard, par-72 North Ranch layout, their final round of 5-over 293 giving San Diego State an impressive three-shot victory over Pac-12 power Arizona State.
Doesn’t sound like the weather was particularly SoCalish the entire three days, but with most of the field having already lost the fall portion of the wraparound 2020-2021 season to the coronavirus pandemic, I’m sure most of the guys were happy to just to be out there competing again.
San Diego State opened with a solid 6-over 294 and got it going a little in Tuesday’s second round with a 1-under 287. The conditions must have been decent for the second round because North Ranch surrendered some considerably lower scores than the other two days.
Still, the Aztecs entered the final round in a tie for third place with SMU, seven shots behind Arizona State and two behind Louisville out of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
But San Diego State, behind a solid 2-under 70 from Zhao Jin, a senior from China, was much the best in the final round, its 293 giving the Aztecs a 10-over 874 total.
Arizona State, which was ranked No. 6 by Golfstat when the 2019-’20 season came to a premature end, closed with a 303 to earn runnerup honors with a 13-over 877 total.
The Sun Devils, behind the impressive individual winner, David Puig, a sophomore from Spain and No. 31 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), opened with a 4-over 292 and took command with a 6-under 282 in the second round, Puig leading the way with a scintillating 6-under 66.
SMU, out of the American Athletic Conference, closed with a 301 to take third place with an 18-over 882 total that left it five shots behind Arizona State.
The Mustangs had earned the final spot in the match-play bracket in the 2019 NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. and were No. 12 in the Golfstat rankings when last season ended in March.
Louisville, which was ranked 14th last spring when the pandemic shut things down, closed with a 306 to finish alone in fourth place at 21-over 885, three shots behind SMU.
Nobody was playing better in the early part of 2020 than Pepperdine was and the Waves’ perch atop the Golfstat rankings when the pandemic arrived reflected that. Pepperdine showed up at North Ranch as the defending champion and promptly shot itself out of contention with an opening-round 308.
The Waves rebounded with the best team round of the tournament, a sparkling 11-under 277 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 15-over 303 that left them in fifth place at 24-over 888, three shots behind Louisville.
Pepperdine, despite losing Haskins Award winner Sahith Theegala to the professional ranks, remains incredibly deep. Two of the players the Waves brought to North Ranch to compete as individuals, Joshua McCarthy, a redshirt senior from Danville, Calif., and R.J. Manke, a senior from Lakewood, Wash., finished 2-3, respectively, behind Puig in the individual standings.
Pepperdine did get to play a little last fall, including an impressive victory in the East Lake Cup in November, the Waves dispatching Texas Tech in the semifinals and perennial Big 12 power Oklahoma in the final.
It was another 12 shots back to Pac-12 power Southern California in sixth place, the Trojans closing with a 303 for a 36-over 900 total.
ACC power Georgia Tech was two shots behind Southern Cal in seventh place at 38-over 902 after finishing up with a 305. The Yellow Jackets were No. 7 in the Golfstat rankings when the season was halted last March. With a lineup that had the reigning U.S. Amateur champion in Andy Ogletree and a guy in Tyler Strafaci who would win both the North & South Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in the summer of 2020, Georgia Tech would have been a tough out if it had managed to make it to the match-play bracket in an NCAA Championship that never was.
The Aztecs were led by Youssef Guezzale, a junior home boy from San Diego who was part of a quartet of four players tied for third place at even-par 216. Guezzale followed up an opening-round 73 with a sparkling 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 75.
Junior Joey Moore is probably one of those San Diego State guys who came to southern California to escape the winters in his home town of Billings, Mont. I’m guessing Moore has played in tougher conditions than the players faced Wednesday. He had matched par in the opening round with a 72 and carded a solid 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round. He matched Guezzale’s 3-over 75 in the final round and finished among the group tied for ninth place at 2-over 218.
After struggling a little with a pair of 75s in the first two rounds, Jin matched the low round of the day with his 2-under 70 in Wednesday’s final round that left him in the group tied for 11th place at 4-over 220. It was a huge round for the Aztecs.
Puwit Anupansuebsai, a freshman from Thailand, gave San Diego State four players in the top 20 as he closed with a second straight 1-over 73 that left him in the group tied for 20th place at 224. Anupansuebsai earned himself a match-play berth in last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes.
Rounding out the San Diego State lineup was another home boy from San Diego, senior Steve Sugimoto, who finished among the group tied for 26th place at 226. Sugimoto’s opening round of 2-over 74 was a key counter for the Aztecs.
Puig seemed to be playing a different golf course than the rest of the field. His opening-round 70 matched the low round of the day and then he ripped off five birdies and an eagle against a lone bogey in his brilliant second-round 66. In Wednesday’s tough conditions, Puig was rock solid with 16 pars and two birdies as he again matched the low round of the day with a 70 that gave him a 10-under 206 total.
Pepperdine’s McCarthy was nine shots behind Puig in second place at 1-under 215. McCarthy matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-over 73 in Tuesday’s second round before matching the low round of the day in the final round with a 2-under 70.
Pepperdine’s Manke was part of the four-way logjam at even-par 216 along with San Diego State’s Guezzale. After opening with a 2-over 74, Manke fired a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 73.
Rounding out the foursome tied for third place even-par were SMU’s Noah Goodwin, a junior from Corinth, Texas, and Louisville’s Matthias Schmid, a senior from Germany and No. 15 in the WAGR.
Goodwin won the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur crown at the Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan., beating Matthew Wolff, who you can watch on TV playing on the PGA Tour these days, in the final. Goodwin matched the best round of the day in Monday’s opening round with a 2-under 70 and added a 71 before closing with a 75.
Schmid carded a solid 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 71, but struggled a little in Wednesday’s final round with a 77.
Goodwin’s SMU teammate, Mac Meissner, a senior from San Antonio, Texas and No. 21 in the WAGR, and Arizona State’s Chun An Yu, a graduate student from Taiwan and No. 4 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for seventh place at 1-over 217.
Meissner was the AAC individual champion two years ago before leading the Mustangs on their unlikely run to match play in the NCAA Championship. He displayed his explosiveness with a brilliant 8-under 64 at Bandon Dunes in the opening round of qualifying for match play in last summer’s U.S. Amateur. Meissner matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-under 71 before finishing up with a 74.
Yu was steady throughout, carding a pair of even-par 72s in the second and third rounds after opening with a 73. The North Ranch layout seems to agree with Yu, who finished in third place in the Southwestern a year ago.
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