SAN DIEGO STATE

Coaches: Dale Walker, director of golf, 9th year; Ryan Donovan, head coach, 6th year

2007-08 postseason: 7th, Mountain West Conference Championships; 9th, NCAA West Regional; 14th, NCAA Championships

Top players: Johan Carlsson, Andrew Cooley, Matt Hoffenberg, Alex Kang, David Lyons, Bryan Martin, David Palm, J.J. Spaun

Outlook: The Aztecs are coming off their best finish in the NCAA finals, and Donovan says he's fully aware of what has separated SDSU from the very top teams: depth. Last year, he said, SDSU's fifth scorer averaged three more strokes per round than the fifth player at NCAA champion UCLA. “That's a lot,” Donovan said. So the Aztecs recruited heavily for this year, and Donovan said, “On paper, this is the best team we've ever had, because we have the depth we've never had.” As evidence of that, Cooley, a freshman from England who won the Italian Amateur, wasn't in the starting five for the team's first tournament in Washington last week, and he tied for third playing as an individual. In an extension of his fine play last year as a freshman, Carlsson, of Sweden, took second. Another sophomore, Hoffenberg, is coming off an outstanding summer, including winning the SCGA Match Play title.

USD

Coach: Tim Mickelson, 6th year

2007-08 postseason: 1st, West Coast Conference Championships; 25th, NCAA West Regional

Top players: Alex Ching, Luke Eriksson, Darrin Hall, Giles Hedley, Blake Trimble, Jake Yount

Outlook: Last May, the Toreros made their second trip to the West Regionals in three years after winning their first WCC title, and because three players from that squad are now seniors, Mickelson believes this year's squad presents USD with its best chance to make the national finals. “We've got a lot more to prove this year,” Mickelson said. Back is Yount, a senior who seized his first college win in May's WCC Championships. A strong addition has been Ching, a Hawaiian freshman who has been the Toreros' top scorer in their first two events this season. “That's great stuff for us,” Mickelson said. “He's going to be an impact player.”

POINT LOMA NAZARENE

Coach: Ben Foster, 35th year

2007-08 postseason: 1st, NAIA Region II; 6th, NAIA Nationals

Top players: Trent Castro, Sam Cyr, Marc Machado, Zack Ponder, Joel Salmond, Sean Stevens

Outlook: Coached by Foster, who was recently elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Sea Lions are coming off one of the finest seasons in school history. It's hard at any level of team golf to win tournaments, and PLNU captured six titles, including the Region II championship. This year, Foster has a strong and balanced team of three seniors and three sophomores, led by Cyr, the NAIA individual champion. “We really think we're going to be as good or better than last year,” Foster said. Stevens, a sophomore, brings a unique perspective to PLNU. He was born in the United States but grew up in Scotland while his dad worked for an oil company. “He's an American kid with a different kind of cultural experience,” Foster said.

CAL STATE SAN MARCOS

Coach: Fred Hanover, 11th year

2007-08 postseason: 6th,

NAIA Region II

Top players: Chris Aldrete, Kurt Backeberg, Brandon Gandy, Chris Gruidl, Kyle Kumagai, Shezad Lakdawala, Robert Nicanor

Outlook: The Cougars had “kind of a miserable season” in '07-'08, according to Hanover, because they lacked depth. Hanover has tried to remedy that with five incoming freshmen. It won't be a quick fix, but he believes the Cougars will again be national contenders in the next couple of years. CSUSM will be without its No. 1 player, D.J. Harries, for the fall because he is academically ineligible. The other two veterans, Gandy and Lakdawala, are expected to pick up the slack, and Hanover said he is already seeing much better qualifying scores by the freshmen than he saw at this time last year. “Our scoring average should plummet by 4 or 5 strokes,” he said. “Our goal would be to get to nationals and build on that experience in the future.”

UCSD

Coach: Mike Wydra, 30th year

2007-08 postseason: 6th, California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships; did not qualify as team for NCAA Division II West Regional

Top players: Austin Alfonso, Ryan Bailey, Mike Neustadt, Keith Okasaki, Billy Olsen, Brian Olshock, Raj Samra

Outlook: The Tritons have struggled for consistency in recent years, but Wydra said of this current group: “I think I have the best team I've had in 20 years. They are really, really good. This team would beat my national championship team from '93.” That is saying a lot, but Wydra believes he has a top player to lead in Samra, who at Rio Hondo last year was the top community college player in Southern California. Samra went as low as 67 last year, and he has a tie for ninth in a tournament already this season. Olsen, a senior, is a key returner who finished 25th playing as an individual in the West Regional last May.

WOMEN

CAL STATE SAN MARCOS

Coach: Fred Hanover, 11th year

2007-08 postseason: 1st, NAIA Region II Championships; 3rd, NAIA Championships

Key players: Stephanie Cole, Linnel De Villa, Megan Hefferon, Suzi Leonardy, Roxanne Mejia, Natalie Todd

Outlook: The Cougars figure to experience something of a letdown after winning their second straight Region II title and earning a school-best third-place finish in the NAIA Championships that they hosted last May. Hanover lost several of his key players to graduation, and veteran standout Ellyse Siu is red-shirting this season. The leader is expected to be Todd, who transferred in last spring and had an immediate impact. In the first tournament this season against mostly Division II competition, Mejia, a sophomore, posted a team-and career-best 14th-place finish. The Cougars finished a respectable seventh out of 15 teams. “We're right where we expected to be,” Hanover said.

SAN DIEGO STATE

Coach: Felicia Brown, 7th year

2007-08 postseason: 7th, Mountain West Conference Championships

Key players: Stephanie Arcala, Petra Cole, Malin Enarsson, Maki Kamimura, Casey McIntosh, Samantha Roberts, Ashley Wood

Outlook: After years of mostly mediocre play, the Aztecs might finally have something to cheer. In its second tournament of the season last week, SDSU shot a 21-over total in Colorado that tied for second-best in school history for a 54-hole tournament. In the first round, the Aztecs posted their best one-round total in more than four years. A huge contributor to the success was a Swedish freshman, Enarsson, who tied for eighth at 1-under, becoming the first SDSU golfer to finish under par since 2003. Two local sophomores, Arcala (Oceanside) and Roberts (Carlsbad), shot career-best 72s in the final round.

– TOD LEONARD