(Photo: Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
Tournaments 2,214 miles away from home are never easy. Those tournaments don’t get much easier when the field features nine Top-25 opponents. Those tasks were just two of the challenges presented to No. 8 Arizona State men’s golf as it went coast-to-coast to compete at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational in Palm City, Florida.
ASU (278/283/279) ultimately stumbled when attempting to overcome those obstacles March 23-24, marking its worst finish of the 2025-26 season, finishing in 14th in the 16-team field at 12-under-par. No. 10 Texas Tech (273/267/267) was able to outperform all of the top dogs, firing 45-under-par across the three-round tournament.
The Sun Devils were seemingly strolling their way through the spring season, finishing in the top three in three out of their first four starts. That walk in the park came to an abrupt halt in the Sunshine State as ASU was unable to keep up with the low-scoring pace.
Junior Connor Williams (70/68/70) led the way for the Maroon and Gold with a five-under-par mark, finishing 27th. Williams has been a rock for ASU all season, posting consistent scores in nearly every start. That trend continued in Florida; the true struggle for him was the lack of a high-power round.
11 out of the top 12 players in the tournament posted a round of five-under-par or better. None of the Sun Devils, including Williams, was able to post a score better than three-under-par. ASU was under par in all three rounds, but did not have a round that put them over the top either as a team or individually.
Junior Fifa Laopakdee (69/70/71) finished two shots worse than Williams in 34th place with a score of one-under-par. The Thai standout started the tournament strong with a round of two-under, but was not able to find a rhythm from there.
Laopakdee is coming off a win at The Desimone Invitational just two weeks ago and led the Sun Devils at the Arizona Thunderbird last week. The Junior seemed to be finding his rhythm at the right time, but will need to course correct with the postseason approaching, as well as his trip to Augusta National for The Masters in April.
Freshman Bowen Mauss (71/72/69) seemed to be slowly finding his stride as the season progressed, but was not able to piece together three rounds in Palm City. Mauss struggled to start the tournament, finishing 36-holes at one-over-par, but was able to respond nicely, going two-under-par to close the tournament at one-under and in 47th place.
The Utah native has shown his ability to go low and also had strong showings in the last two tournaments before hitting a Florida roadblock. Although a freshman, his production has been relied on throughout the spring and will likely be needed if ASU wants to have a successful postseason.
One of the biggest changes of the spring season came with the addition of freshman Raul Gomez (69/76/69), who came out of the gates sprinting. After winning two matches at the Copper Cup, firing 11-under-par in Hawaii, and finishing 12th at the Thunderbird, the Spaniard’s second blemish slowed him down.
After a solid two-under-par opening round, Gomez looked primed to continue his hot start in the Maroon and Gold, but a five-over-par second round was too much for him to climb back from, as his two-under-par close placed him at one-over for the week in 55th place.
Gomez’s fellow spring addition, freshman Bryan Newman (70/73/73), finished last for ASU. Newman finished inside the top-25 in his last two tournaments but could not string together a third, finishing in 62nd place at three-over-par.
At the top of the leaderboard, Texas Tech was able to fend off No. 1 Auburn, which was hot on the Red Raiders’ heels all weekend. Juniors Ben Gregg and Tim Wiedemeyer led the surge for Texas Tech with scores of 13-under-par and 12-under-par, respectively, placing both inside the individual top ten.
The only two players to beat them out were Florida State junior Tyler Weaver and Oklahoma junior Ryder Cowan, who shared the individual title with final scores of 15-under-par.
The Valspar Invitational marks ASU’s fourth tournament in four weeks, and it seems the spring grind might’ve finally caught up to them. ASU will play its last of five March tournaments from March 30-31 at the Maridoe Invitational at Maridoe Golf Club, before heading back to the Valley of the Sun for its home tournament, the Thunderbird Collegiate at Papago Golf Club.
