(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)
The No. 2 Arizona State men’s golf team headed east to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete in the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational, coming off the backs of two wins in their first three tournaments. The success, however, wasn’t continued.
The Sun Devils put together by far their worst performance of the season, finishing 12th in a 15-team field that consisted of 12 other top 25-ranked teams. ASU put itself in a hole immediately after posting a team score of 15-over-par in round one and holding 14th place in a 15-team field.
The struggling performance was highlighted by the two youngsters, sophomore Peer Wernickie and freshman Boston Bracken. The duo brought up the rear for the Sun Devils, shooting 4-over-par and 7-over-par, respectively.
This trend continued into the second round, where the Sun Devils did not fare much better, shooting a team score of 9-over-par. Bracken would bounce back, shooting ASU’s only even or better score of the first two rounds with an even par round that saw him convert four birdies.
Outside of Bracken, the rest of the Sun Devils struggled in round two, all shooting 3-over-par. Sophomore phenom Connor Williams, who has been the team’s best golfer to start the season, had his worst showing of the year, shooting 8-over-par in round two alone.
This left the Sun Devils with a 24-over-par team score heading into the final round on Tuesday, where the rest time between days helped ASU significantly.
Round 3 was by far ASU’s best showing of the quick two-day tournament, shooting only 3-over-par as a team. Williams bounced back in a huge way, shooting the best round of any Sun Devil with a 2-under-par round that saw him make only two bogeys on a course where he had previously made seven bogeys or worse on the round before.
Senior Michael Mjaaseth was not far behind with a 1-under-par round of his own, which helped him finish tied for 27th on the individual leaderboard at 4-over-par, the best result among Sun Devils at the tournament.
To round out the individual leaderboard for ASU, Williams finished tied 42nd, shooting 8-over par (72-78-68), Bracken came in tied 57th, shooting 12-over-par (77-70-75), Wernickie placed 69th, shooting 17-over-par (74-73-80) and junior Fifa Laopakdee did not place after a withdrawal during round one but did return for rounds two and three.
All of this culminated in a total team score of 27-over-par and a disappointing performance for head coach Matt Thurmond and his squad. The Sun Devils now get almost a month off to put this showing behind them before they head to the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA, which is also home to the Tour Championship.
