Tournament: Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic
Date: March 7-8, 2022
Co-hosts: San Diego and the State of San Diego
Location: Chula Vista, California.
Course: San Diego Country Club
Course Par/Yardage: Par 72 / 7,033 yards
Host website: https://goaztecs.com
Live score: https://csura.ms/3HFxcpv
Tournament Court (16): Colorado State, San Diego, San Diego State, BYU, California, Colorado, Denver, Loyola Marymount, LSU, Nevada, Notre Dame, Sam Houston State, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Washington , Wyoming
Next on the tee: Colorado State is on the course for the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic, March 7-8. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, co-hosted by San Diego State University and the University of San Diego, is held at the San Diego Country Club (Par 72 – 7,033 yards) in Chula Vista, Utah. California.
Five rapids on the Prestige:
- This will be CSU’s seventh time at the event with its best finish a fifth in 2021.
- Of the 16 competing programs, 13 had team or individual participants at the 2021 NCAA Regionals (seven teams, eight schools with individuals), with three teams and one individual representative qualifying for the NCAA Championships .
- On the field, 14 teams are ranked in the top 125 nationally according to Golfstat, with four in the top 50, including No. 8 Washington, No. 15 Notre Dame, No. 34 LSU and No. 45 Nevada. .
- The Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic has brought together many of the world’s greats during their college careers, including world No. 1 player Jon Rahm and current No. 7 Xander Schauffele, among many others.
- In its 15th year, the Lamkin Grips SD Classic will be held at the San Diego Country Club for the 10th consecutive year and 12th time overall.
CSU History in Lamkin Grips SD Classic
14/03-15/2011 6/12 373-381-379=1133 (+53)
13/03-14/2017 15/10 292-283-297=872 (+8)
12/03-13/2018 12/16 292-286-304=882 (+18)
3/11-12/2019 11/15 295-300-292=887 (+23)
09/03-10/2020 19/07 291-289-285=865 (+1)
3/8-10/2021 5/20 289-300-288=877 (+13)
Range for the Lamkin Grips SD Classic: The Rams are participating in the traditional play-five, count-four event this week at the San Diego Country Club. For CSU, the composition will be:
1. David Bryant
2. Christophe Bléier
3. Connor Jones
4. Rasmus Hjelm
5. Oscar Teiffel
Last outing: After finishing the delayed second round and playing the third today, Colorado State finished tied for 13th place at the 2022 The Prestige Wednesday. The three-day, 54-hole tournament was held on PGA WEST’s Greg Norman course (Par 71 -7,100 yards) in La Quinta, California.
In much milder conditions than the first two days, the Rams finished the second round at 311, then posted an 11 of 295 in the last 18 to finish at 47 of 899 tied with the No. 5 and national champion in Pepperdine title, North Texas and San Diego State No. 44. The Rams picked up wins over No. 47 San Francisco and No. 49 UCLA, among others. No. 18 Vanderbilt won the tournament at 16-over 868 with a 14-under final round of 270 and was 10 shots ahead of No. 48 Oregon at 26-over 878. No. 14 Kansas finished third at 29-over 881, with No. 7 Texas Tech in fourth at 33-over 885. Long Beach State and Oregon State are tied for fifth at 38-over 890.
Senior David Bryant was the best Ram tied for 12th with 7 of 220, his third top 20 of the season and 16th of his 32 career events. Second year Gunnar Broin was next in a tie for 68th at 16 of 229, while senior Oscar Teiffel tied for 77th at 17 of 230. Junior Connor Jones tied for 96th at 21 of 234, with sophomore Rasmus Hjelm was disqualified in the second round but rallied to shoot a parity 71 in the final round, CSU’s best score in the last 18.
In the Prestige Individual event at Coral Mountain Golf Club, rookie Christophe Bléier was the top Ram tied for 18th at 6 of 222, while freshman Jay Pabin was 43rd at 15 of 231 and a redshirt freshman Gavin Hagstrom tied for 44th at 17 of 233.
The military tribute bag continues: In 2021-22, CSU continues its tradition of honoring those who have served our country in the military. This year, the program again recognizes U.S. Army veteran Charles W. Williamson III, due to shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Williamson served nearly 17 years on active duty before retiring medically as a Sergeant First Class in 2007. He was part of a tank effort in Operation Desert Storm and during his first nine years of service, he was an armor crewman and held all positions on a tank, including tank commander. During his military career, he also served as a platoon sergeant and senior instructor for individual readiness training for Bosnian rotations. He also served as a recruiter for the army, retiring as commander of a six-man recruiting station. From his service, he received numerous awards, bags, ribbons and commendations, including for meritorious service. His daughter Katelyn was a Folds of Honor scholarship recipient at CSU, earning her degree in biomedical sciences.
The bag was carried by the previous tournament’s top CSU finisher during the 2019-20 season. AJ Ott wore him the 2020-21 season due to COVID protocols, taking him all the way to the NCAA Championships as an individual. This year senior David Bryant carried the bag during the fall and Connor Jones had it for The Prestige as CSU’s top finisher in the team’s final fall event. Bryant will use the bag at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic as CSU’s leader at the Prestige.
In 2019-20, the Military Tribute Bag made its debut, honoring former golfer and former U.S. Army veteran James “Jerry” Jackson. Jackson had served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, eventually dying from the lasting effects of his service’s Agent Orange exposure.
Bryant and Bleier win monthly MW awards: state of colorado David Bryant and Christophe Bléier were named Mountain West Golfer and Freshman of the Month, respectively, for September, the league announced today. This is the second monthly/weekly conference award in Bryant’s career and the first for Bleier.
Bryant and Bleier led the Rams to their seventh consecutive Ram Masters Invitational in retrospect after day one weather led to above-average scores. Bryant is tied for second honors at the event for the second time in his career, including a 3-under 67 final round to help the Rams post a 5-under 275, the only round under par in the tournament. In his first collegiate event, Bleier also shot a 3-under 67 in the final round to tie Bryant for the tournament’s low score and finish tied for sixth in the tournament.
Five rapids on the rams:
- CSU is returning to its lineup that has played in most fall events.
- The Rams have been represented in the last four NCAA regional competitions — twice as individuals (2017, 2021) and twice as a full team (2018, 2019). The 2020 regionals weren’t played due to COVID, but CSU was ranked in the top 30 nationally when the season ended early.
- The Rams will play in seven different states for their 11 scheduled tournaments this year, including 10 in the Mountain or Pacific time zones. The only trip among those was the third tournament of the year, when CSU competed at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate.
- David Bryant is currently second in career at CSU.
- The head coach Christian Newton now has 13 tournament wins in his more than nine years as Rams leader.
On the world stage: Two Rams on the current roster are ranked in the top 400 of the current World Amateur Golf Rankings, as of March 5. The ranking is based on their average performance in selected tally events over the past two calendar years.
Player’s WAGR
Christophe Bléier 280
David Bryant 320
Newton named to GCAA National Advisory Board
- The head coach Christian Newton was named to the National Advisory Board of the Golf Coaches Association of America, effective July 1, 2020. This is the first time a CSU coach has been appointed to this prestigious position.
- Newton was elected by his fellow coaches at the GCAA national convention in December 2019 and will become the third vice president on July 1, 2020.
- This is a 10-year commitment, where every two years he will move up the ranks after each president’s term ends. He will become second vice-president from 2022-24, first vice-president from 2024-26 before becoming president in 2026-28. Thereafter, he will serve for two years as incumbent president from 2028 to 2030.
Rams on tour: Former Colorado State standout Martin Laird, a PGA Tour veteran, has already made a statement in the 2021 season with his fourth career win on tour, a Hospital Open playoff win. Children’s Shriners. It was his second appearance at the event as he also won the title in 2009.
He made the cut in 14 events, with victory and two other top-25 finishes as his best results. He earned $1.81 million this season after the 2020 season was halted due to the pandemic. In 2021, his efforts during the regular season earned him a spot in the FedExCup playoffs for the 11th time in 13 seasons.
This year he made the cut in five of the seven events and has three top-25 finishes.
For his career, he topped $19.95 million in official PGA Tour earnings and made the cut in nearly two-thirds of his 333 PGA Tour starts in his 14-plus years on the best golf course. Laird was inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame in the fall of 2017.
Recent standout Jake Staiano earned a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour this year and made the cut in his first event at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard at Columbia in mid-February. He moved up the rankings and will now have additional guaranteed starts due to his result.
