(Photo Courtesy – Stryder Bigler)
Las Vegas, Nevada: Arizona State Men’s Golf had a week to forget in Las Vegas. They finished 14 in the tournament, locking it in as the worst performance from the Sun Devil’s this season.
To put in perspective how abysmal the play of Arizona State was the last time they placed lower than 14 in a tournament was on March 11 2012. Coincidentally, at another Las Vegas event, the Southern Highlands Invitational, they finished that tournament at 15.
This tournament was set to be a battle for the Sun Devils as it featured some of the best golf programs in the country. A perfect test for ASU but they fell short of expectations.
The squad as a whole finished +18 and the standout from the tournament was sophomore Michael Mjaaseth.
Mjaaseth finished tied for 18 with a score of +1.
Junior Josele Ballester finished tied for 21 in the individual tournament with a score of +2.
Sophomore Luke Potter and graduate student Ryggs Johnston both tied for 46 with a score of +7.
Freshman sensation Wenyi Ding coming off an incredible Amer Ari performance that saw him breaking countless records including scoring what is believed to be the lowest 54-hole round in collegiate history found himself struggling this tournament.
Ding finished 7 over tied with Potter and Johnston for 46 on the leaderboard.
Despite the poor play, Ding remains number one on Scoreboard.com’s D1 college golf rankings.
The worst performance by the Sun Devils was junior Preston Summerhays who finished with twice as many points as any other ASU player with a score of +14. Summerhays finished 68 out of a total of 83 qualified golfers.
“Actually the worst tournament I’ve ever had as a coach,” Coach Matt Thurmond Said, “I’ve seen the great players over the years always do that, they use any loss as material to get better, and that’s what we are gonna do.”
Arizona State will look to get back on track in Mexico at the Cabo Collegiate March 3-5.
