(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Arizona State Men’s Golf took home its first team win of the season at the Isleworth Invitational this week behind freshman Preston Summerhays’ first top-10 finish in his career.
The Sun Devils finished 11-under par to win the Isleworth by two strokes.
This was the first time ASU won the Isleworth, having participated in the tournament five times since 2005.
The Sun Devils were at the top of the leaderboard from the end of the first day all the way to the tournament’s finish on Tuesday afternoon. Summerhays and the Pac-12 Conference’s Golfer of the Month – ASU senior Cameron Sisk – led the field after round one tied for first place with a score of five-under par.
Junior David Puig went 2-under par on Sunday as well with a score of 2-under to push the Sun Devils to the top spot after round one with an 11-stroke lead.
On the second day of the tournament, the Sun Devils struggled to keep pace, shooting four-over par. Sisk was the lone Sun Devil under par with a score of four-under. However, ASU quickly bounced back on the final day with a score of four-under par.
The Sun Devils’ head coach Matt Thurmond jokingly said it was “probably something I didn’t say” when asked about how he turned the Sun Devils around for round three.
Senior Mason Andersen, junior Ryggs Johnston and Puig all shot under par on Tuesday, and Summerhays shot even to help the Sun Devils earn their first win of the season.
ASU dropped 61 birdies en route to their win, which was six more than the next best team – Auburn – with 55.
The Sun Devils also led the tournament on Isleworth’s difficult Par 3s. They scored 6-over on these holes with an average of 3.1 strokes on each.
“The courses have all been set up tough,” Thurmond said. “They’re [almost] all PGA courses, and they are not making it easy on us.”
Next up, the Sun Devils travel to the site of the TOUR Championship on the PGA Tour in the East Lake Golf Club in Georgia. Round One of the East Lake Cup tees off on Monday for ASU’s last tournament of the fall season, where the Sun Devils will try to overtake Golfweek’s No. 1 ranked team in Oklahoma . After East Lake, ASU will be back in action for the Copper Cup Jan. 16 to start its spring season.
Thurmond mentioned that while the Sun Devils are currently ranked No. 2, there is certainly a desire to move up.
“I never worry about ranking but for some reason this year I really want to be ranked number one,” he said.
