San Diego State gets off to a hot start at Southwestern Invitational

January 27, 2025 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Nathan Sampson is 4-under and led the Aztecs in round one (Derrick Tuskan/San Diego State Photo)

The Aztecs led the team competition by six shots, while Wyatt Plattner and Ivan Barahona lead the individual competition

San Diego State got off to a hot start at the 2025 Southwestern Invitational at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., shooting a team score of 8-under 276 to take a six-shot lead into the second round.

The Aztecs were led by Nathan Sampson, who is in solo third place at 4-under, and 2025 Latin America Amateur Champion Justin Hastings and Chanachon Chokprajakchat, who are both T5 at 2-under.

Vanderbilt is in solo second place at 2-under 282, and USC is in solo third place at 1-under 283 as the three teams that shot under par in the first round.

UNLV is in solo fourth place at 1-over 285, and San Jose State is in solo fifth place at 2-over 286.

In the individual competition, Wyatt Plattner of UNLV and Ivan Barahona of San Jose State are tied for the lead at 5-under.

This is the 46th edition of the Southwestern Invitational. According to Pepperdine University, The tournament began in 1978 at North Ranch Country Club with USC as the host. C.W. Johnson served as tournament director for more than 25 years. North Ranch also hosted the 1988 NCAA Championships.

Over the years, the Southwestern Invitational has also been known as the Southwestern Intercollegiate, the USC Collegiate Invitational, the North Ranch Intercollegiate, or the Cleveland Golf Classic. Pepperdine and USC co-hosted the event in 2013 and 2014, and the Waves then took over sole hosting duties beginning in 2016.

Arizona State holds the record for most victories, with nine. Host Pepperdine has marked three first-place finishes (2006, 2017, and 2020), with Sahith Theegala (2017, 2020) being one of four two-time winners.

The 2024 Southwestern Invitational foreshadowed one of the top amateur golf stories of the year: Ohio State's Neal Shipley's play. Shipley won the individual title, and Ohio State won the team title. Shipley went on to earn low amateur honors at the 2024 Masters Tournament and 2024 U.S. Open.

Results: Southwestern Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Wells Williams	West Point, MS	700	68-71-69=208
2	Daniel Bennett	, South Africa	500	72-70-67=209
2	Justin Hastings	, Cayman Islands	500	69-71-69=209
2	Ian Gilligan	Reno, NV	500	72-67-70=209
5	Pablo Ereno	, Spain	400	71-73-66=210

View full results for Southwestern Invitational

About the Southwestern Invitational

San Diego State gets off to a hot start at Southwestern Invitational

54-hole men's college tournament with team (best four scores of five players) and individual competitions. The Southwestern Invitational is the combination of two previously existing tournaments: the Southwestern Intercollegiate (started by USC in 19...