Tucson, Arizona: The Sun Devils started their spring season off slow but since day one of the Copper Cup the Devils have been rolling. Day two of the tournament brought a win against the University of Southern California which started a hot streak for the Sun Devils.
Junior Preston Summerhays credited freshman Nick Prieto as a big reason why he was able to improve so quickly off his shaky start. The stellar play displayed in that tournament returned.
In the team’s most recent tournament, the Arizona National Invite, the junior scored -10 through his first 32 holes. This score was good enough to put Summerhays third on the individual leaderboard.
At the end of day one the best player throughout the tournament was Wenyi Ding who scored -10. Ding has been dominant and has brought the Sun Devils to second place on the team leaderboard while he sat at first on the individual leaderboard.
Heading into day two the ASU looked to hold its positions on the leaderboard but after UofA and Brigham Young University battled back into contention ASU found themselves in a foot race.
With BYU gaining on them the Sun Devils were able to play some of their best golf of the day. They birdied 10 times in the last four holes with one eagle from junior Josele Ballester. The Sun Devils gave themselves a lead over BYU which left them tied with UofA going into the final hole.
The final hole (Hole 18) is a unique par 4 with water surrounding the fairway making it the most unforgiving hole on the course. The stage was set for an exciting finish, Summerhays birdied his last hole. But two of UofA’s golfers also got the job done leaving the Sun Devils in third place.
Despite that the Sun Devils played an incredible round and finished off very strong. Wenyi Ding was edged out of first due to an impressive round three by Zac Jones. Ding still flashed dominance hitting -17 finishing second overall and was the front-runner for most of the tournament.
Preston Summerhays cooled off from his hot start but still finished seventh with a score of -14.
The Sun Devils also got contributions from Josele Ballester, freshman Connor Williams, senior Ryggs Johnson and sophomore Luke Potter. All of them were instrumental in the Sun Devils’ strong finish.
Ballester in particular kicked the tournament off with a shaky performance but continued to improve every round. Josele finished his round three with an ASU best -6.
When asked what Ballester did to improve his game from round to round he said that “small adjustment in my setup (wider stance)” was the reason for the drastic change in play.
Ballester’s performance was a testament to what the Sun Devils have been able to do throughout the season they, “stayed patient and positive. Always thinking that great things would come.”
ASU keeps its streak of top-five finishes alive and continue to improve during this important stretch of its season. The team’s next contest will be The Amer Ari Invitational on Feb. 8 in Waimea, Hawaii.
