(Photo Courtesy – Stryder Bigler)
On Sunday, four Pac-12 powers, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA and USC, gathered at AK-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona for round one of the 2024 Copper Cup.
Round one was the rivalry round, as the Sun Devils took on the Wildcats and the Bruins took on the cross-town Trojans.
The 36-hole match play round began with four pairings for each school facing off in the morning matches.
By the time the morning wrapped up, Arizona State was in good shape, up 2.5-1.5 after the early rounds.
It was the Coelho/Potter and Ballester/Ding pairings who secured a full point for the Sun Devils, and the Summerhays/Johnston pairing who squared their morning match.
Junior Kiko Coelho and sophomore Luke Potter squeaked out a narrow win, playing all 18 holes while junior Josele Basllester and Wenyi Ding finished up on 17 up three holes.
Despite the solid start for ASU, however, the afternoon rounds didn’t go as planned for the Sun Devils.
The afternoon rounds consisted of eight singles matchups between the Sun Devils and Wildcats.
Arizona needed to grab five points in the singles’ round, and it did just that with five straight up wins.
Graduate student Gabe Salvanera was one of the Arizona State players on the losing end today, and he talked about how his game was just a bit off Sunday afternoon with putting being the focus.
“Put the ball in play, just couldn’t hit enough putts to get it done,” said Salvanera after the round.
When talking about the greens at AK-Chin, he added, “the greens were good. A couple of putts were a little shaky. Didn’t know where some (putts) were going to go, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Even though the team was on the losing end Sunday, Salvanera still sees refocusing playing well tomorrow as important.
“Just keep doing what I’m doing, keep hitting fairways, hitting greens, and hopefully hit some putts tomorrow.”
Along with playing his part in squaring his morning match, graduate student Ryggs Johnston played well in his singles match and secured the win after being up five holes with just four to play.
Johnston highlighted his driver as the strength of his impressive round.
“I felt I drove the ball really well and hit the long irons and woods really well. I played really well on the par fives and short par fours,” Johnston said.
Even after a great day, Johnston still saw an opportunity to improve tomorrow.
“I can just tighten it up with the short irons and wedges.”
Despite the unideal outcome for the Sun Devils as a team Sunday, Johnston did explain why he believes this year’s ASU team can be the one to win the program’s first Men’s Golf National Championship since 1996.
“We’re just really knocking the rust off. We didn’t even start official team practice yet. We know we’re one of the best teams in the country and we’re good enough to do it.”
Even after falling to their rivals by a narrow 6.5-5.5 score Sunday, there is no shortage of confidence within this Sun Devil tem when it comes to long term goals.
The two other individual winners for ASU today were Luke Potter and Nicholas Prieto.
Potter was phenomenal in his singles match, closing out the match in just 15 holes and tallying five birdies and an eagle.
Prieto also stepped up for the Sun Devils, as he chalked three birdies and an eagle in route to a win.
What’s next for ASU is a consolation matchup Monday against USC tomorrow while Arizona and UCLA battle it out for the Copper Cup Championship.
