(Photo Courtesy – GolfDigest.com)
Gold Canyon, Arizona: Coming off of disappointing finishes in both the Stanford Intercollegiate and the Windy City Collegiate Classic, the Sun Devil women’s golf team was set to kick off their spring season at the beautiful Superstition Mountain golf course. This 6349 yard Par 72 sits in front of the incredible Superstition Mountains creating a breathtaking backdrop for the Sun Devil’s as they take on the University of Kansas, Baylor University, University of Arizona and University of California in the Match in the Desert.
The Devils came into the week ranked No. 21 on golfweek.com’s official list and looking to improve. While this match was full of other contenders UCLA and UofA being two teams to look out for as the season progresses. This is a team with championship aspirations on their mind and they aim to learn from their mistakes of the fall season and build as a team.
ASU ended their day in third place behind UCLA and UofA both of which played excellently. It was a tough matchup with every team shooting at least -5. The Sun Devils battled in their own right, the standout of the day being Ashley Menne the senior from Surprise, AZ dominated the greens shooting an incredible -6 on the day which was tied for the second best score on any of the five teams and one of the best performances from any Sun Devil this year. It was an excellent way to kick off the spring season. head coach Missy Farr-Kaye weighed in on the importance of performing well in their first competition saying she was, “very happy to Ashley to get off to a fast start during her final spring.” She will be someone that the Sun Devils will look to with three All-Americans in her pocket. A strong finish would potentially give her a fourth and will help bring some poise to the team. She has been in pressure situations more than anyone else on this squad being the only senior on the team.
Sophomore Paula Schulz-Hannsen also performed well under pressure scoring -2, a striking difference from her last time out in the Stanford Intercollegiate when she scored +7 and ranked No. 53 on the leaderboard. She finished the day ranked No. 14 in the tournament and produced greatly to the team. Junior Grace Summerhays also performed well scoring -1 and is another Sun Devil who greatly improved on her last outing proving that this ASU squad has a lot of room to grow.
While the Sun Devils didn’t win this outing it was a promising sign considering how they ended their fall season. Farr-Kaye summed up the outing best explaining, “It is a marathon not a sprint. We have a lot of golf ahead of us and there are some things we can work on.” The Sun Devils will be looking to improve in every tournament from here on out as they gear up for the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships coming later this spring.
