ASU places on the podium in Hawaii, tying its season best performance

(Photo: Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

Backed by the coming-out party of freshman Pimpisa Rubrong, the No. 23 Sun Devils tied for their best finish of the year, earning a second place with a team score of five-under-par.

The Sun Devils traveled back to Hawaii on Tuesday and Wednesday for the second time this season to play in the Dr. Donnis Invitational at Kaneohe Klipper GCS in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The event consisted of a 13-team field and used a standard three-round, stroke-play collegiate golf format, but it took place over two days instead of three, with two rounds played on day one.

Interestingly, the tournament featured a shotgun start, famously used by LIV Golf. Under this format, every player competing tees off at the same time on all 18 holes, instead of start times being staggered.

Coming off a highly disappointing finish at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, where ASU placed 16th out of 17 teams and shot an abysmal 38-over-par, the Sun Devils looked to bounce back in a huge way against a much less competitive field.

Rubrong, now in just her fourth tournament for the Sun Devils, shot her collegiate best score of three-under-par (71-68-71) and placed 5th, never shooting an over-par round for the event.

She was the x-factor on a team that is still without star redshirt junior Patience Rhodes due to the leg injury she suffered over the winter break. If Rubrong can continue to step up the rest of the way, it could be pivotal for the Sun Devils in postseason play.

Despite her impressive score, Rubrong wasn’t the leader in the clubhouse for the Sun Devils, due to senior Paula Schulz-Hanssen, who had an absolute roller coaster of a tournament that ended on the highest of highs.

Schulz-Hanssen came out of the gates flat, having her worst round of the short two-day event, shooting a four-over-par round that only saw one birdie that came on her final hole.

She used that momentum to shoot two stellar rounds that saw her go two-under-par to end day one, followed by a round three best of any player in the field at six-under-par with a bogey-free back nine. This had her finish with a final score of four-under-par (75-69-65), tying her for 3rd.

The other bright spot for ASU was senior Beth Coulter, who grinded her way to an even-par (69-70-74) final score, tying for 12th after all three rounds. Her hot start was encouraging, but the continuing lack of production out of the final round could be what costs the Sun Devils down the line.

Despite finishing tied for 2nd with No. 12 North Carolina, ASU never posed any real threat to No. 2 USC, which finished with a team score of 28-under-par, which was 23 strokes better than the Sun Devils and Tar Heels.

This was mainly due in part to the play of the other three Sun Devils.

Sophomore Isla McDonald-O’Brien barely led the way for the back half of this sixsome, shooting a seven-over-par (76-69-75) and placing 26th on the leaderboard. She was another Sun Devil who showed flashes in one round out of the three, but couldn’t put a full three rounds together.

Next up was freshman Johanna Axelsen, who shot eight-over-par (71-75-75) and just edged out the Sun Devils’ individual competitor for the event, freshman Kate Dillon, who carded nine-over par (76-74-72). The two placed tied 27th and tied 32nd, respectively.

Shockingly, three of the Sun Devils’ six golfers did not record a single birdie, following the trend that Missy Farr-Kaye and her team are struggling severely to score and attack holes in the final round.

Despite the lack of final-round scoring, this event can still be seen as a positive for Farr-Kaye and her Sun Devils, who left Hawaii with two top-five finishes, only one finish outside the top 30, and a tied runner-up finish to the No. 2 team in the country.

The Sun Devils final tournament of the regular season will be their long-awaited home tournament, the PING ASU, at Popago Golf Club in Tempe, Arizona, from March 23-25.