Sun Devils named co-champions of Big 12 Match Play

(Photo: Mark McCormick/ Olympia Field Country Club)

A new addition to the Arizona State men’s golf schedule meant another win for Matt Thurmond and the Sun Devils. A heavily rainy, windy and shortened Big 12 Match Play event saw six different Sun Devils take home at least one point.

Arizona State took the trip to Salt Lake Country Club in Salt Lake City, Utah for what was originally planned as a three-day, five round event from Oct. 12-14. The format saw the 16 Big 12 squads, ranked 1-16 by the coaches, evenly divided into four pools of four teams each. Each team matched up against three other teams from their pool, making up the three pool-play rounds.

Following the pool-play round, the best team from each pool matched up in semi-finals, with the winners moving into the championship to determine a true winner. However, due to the heavy rain, the final championship round was canceled. Instead, the two winners of the semi-final matchups would be crowned co-champions.

The Sun Devils struggled in match play a year ago, when they played the East Lake Cup. They went 1-1 at the Copper Cup, which also incorporated alternate-shot foursomes.

The format didn’t give ASU any problems this go around. The Sun Devils captured 13.5 of the possible 20 points between the four matches, along with being named co-champions of the event with Oklahoma State following a 3-2 win over Texas Tech.

ASU entered the event ranked third in the Big 12 by conference coaches, only behind Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. It was the highest ranked team in its pool, along with No. 6 BYU, No. 11 Utah and No. 14 Iowa State.

The Sun Devils made quick work of both Iowa State and Utah in their first two matches, beating both teams 4-1 and ending the majority of the matches before having to even tee it up on the final hole.

Something to note for the Sun Devils was the debut of highly touted Oregon State transfer, second-year Nguyen Anh Minh. Unfortunately for Minh, he was the only Sun Devil to lose his match against Iowa State and was in turn benched in round two against Utah in favor of second-year Boston Bracken.

Following the first two matches where the Sun Devils clearly had a significant talent advantage, the competition got significantly stiffer. ASU matched up with also undefeated BYU in the final pool play round.

The Cougars are headlined by second-year Kihei Akina, who just came off the back of a ninth-place finish on the PGA Tour at the Bank of Utah Championship earlier this month. The Utah native shot 20-under-par and no higher than 4-under-par in a single round.

The Sun Devils took a commanding 2-0 lead, after both second-year’s Bowen Mauss and Minh — who returned to ASU’s lineup for round 3 — finished their matches before hole 16. BYU clawed back after Akina picked up a 1UP win over Bracken and first-year Oscar Couilleau.

That left fourth-year team captain Connor Williams, who found himself down by one stroke on the final tee, to salvage a tie and force a tiebreaker. When two teams are tied in strokes, total points won are the next statistic looked at to determine a winner. ASU won the tiebreaker and took the victory over BYU. Williams teed up on the 183-yard par 3, hit a good tee shot, and made par. His opponent, BYU’s second-year David Liechty, made bogey, and allowed Williams to secure the half point and a spot in the championship bracket.

The Sun Devils’ final matchup was easily their toughest task of the tournament, Texas Tech. The Red Raiders boast one of the most elite senior classes in the country, with Adam Bresnu, Tim Wiedemeyer and Ben Gregg all ranked inside the top-12 in the PGA TOUR U Rankings heading into the event.

Without fourth-year Fifa Laopakdee with the team for the tournament, this heavyweight matchup was always going to be tough for ASU, but the Sun Devils’ depth shined through, as they picked up their second win in 4 events.

Third-year Peer Wernickie was the MVP of the event, continuing an impressive fall season for the native of Germany. He was the only Sun Devil to win all three of his individual matches, including a dominant 5&4 win in the championship match.

Mauss and Williams came ready to go again in the final round, both picking up wins to get the Sun Devils to the three points they needed to secure the win. Mauss shot 5-under-par in his final round through the sixteen holes he played, while Williams matched head-to-head with Bresnu and converted seven birdies in 16 holes.

Bracken and Minh both fell in highly competitive matches to Gregg and Wiedemeyer. The two will still be able to take a lot of positives moving forward despite both of their losing records over the course of the event.

The Sun Devils are immediately back in action this weekend for the Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, for their final event of the fall, looking to capture their third title in five events.