San Diego State cleans up at the North Ranch Collegiate
29 Feb 2012
see also: Matt Hoffenberg Rankings
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Matt Hoffenberg
WEST LAKE VILLAGE, Calif (Feb. 28, 2012) -- The 18th-ranked San Diego State men's golf team finished atop both leaderboards Tuesday at the 54-hole North Ranch Intercollegiate in Westlake Village, Calif. The Aztecs came away with the team title by five strokes with a 24-over 864, while they had the top three golfers in the field, including medalist Matt Hoffenberg, who won his first career tournament with a 2-over 212 at the par-70, 6,728-yard North Ranch Country Club.
SDSU edged the second-place San Diego Toreros by five strokes, as each side carded final-round scores of 291. Fellow conference member New Mexico finished nine strokes back in third, followed by Pacific, BYU and Charlotte. The victory is the Aztecs' first of the 2011-12 campaign and marks the second year in a row the team has won at the North Ranch Country Club, as it upset top-ranked UCLA last season at the annual USC Invitational.
Hoffenberg (Simi Valley, Calif.) had his best performance of the season, outdueling teammate Alex Kang (Oak Park, Calif.) by two strokes with a 3-over 73 in the final 18 holes. Hoffenberg had 13 pars, four bogeys and a birdie on the par-5 15th hole to notch his first individual victory. Back in 2008, he tied for first place at the end of regulation at the Fresno State Lexus Classic, but then lost the outright title on the third playoff hole.
Kang, meanwhile, logged his second top-five finish of the season, taking second just two strokes behind Hoffenberg at 4-over 214. The senior notched pars on his first seven holes, but then double-bogeyed the eighth and had another double-bogey on the 14th before ending the day with a 75.
Fellow senior J.J. Spaun (San Dimas, Calif.) made it an Aztec sweep of the top three places, as he moved from seventh into third place at 5-over 215, including a final-round 70. Spaun opened the event with a 74 which put him in 23rd place, but then made a leap into seventh with a second-round 71 to end Monday's action.