The fall season for the San Diego State men’s golf team concluded Tuesday at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in Sonoma.

The Aztecs finished eighth in the 16-team field, boosted by a strong showing from all five players including junior Xander Schauffele, who shot a 5-under 211 during the three-round tournament. Schauffele’s performance also helped him finish in a tie for 10th place.

SDSU was also bolstered by a strong finish from Riccardo Michelini, who shot up nine spots on the final day by shooting a 2-under 70. Michelini finished the tournament with a 2-under 214 for his three rounds, and tied for 18th place.

Ricky DeSantis finished at 1-under par, after shooting 3-under the first day, 3-over the second day, and 1-under the final day which included a birdie on the very last hole to help him move up five spots in the leaderboard.

Kevin Ko also shot a 2-under 70 on the final round to finish at 1-over for the tournament while Austin Kaiser finished with a three-round score of 7-over.

Overall, the University of California, Berkeley won the tournament with a team score of 39-under par, and took individual accolades in three of the top five spots with Joel Stalter grabbing first place at 13-under par.

Despite finishing with a total team score of 9-under par, SDSU head coach Ryan Donovan thinks the team can get better, and really appreciates the value of a fall season.

[quote] “It enables you to see things we need to work on and realize where we are in terms of other teams. I think we are a top 25 program,” Donovan said.[/quote]

Now that the fall season is over, the Aztecs have a four-month layoff before getting back into competition in February at The Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta.

[quote]“I think we have a very good team this year. The spring has a little more weight; we can work on things for the next four months. I feel really confident with this team,” Donovan said.[/quote]

Photo courtesy of Stan Liu