Host Arizona State men's golf heads into NCAA championship with momentum
Arizona State men's golf coach Matt Thurmond can only hope his team didn't peak a little too soon.
The Sun Devils cruised to victory in the Stockton (Calif.) Regional last week to earn a berth in the NCAA Championships which start Friday, May 27, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.
How good were the No. 4 Sun Devils? Well, Thurmond's squad went 38-under as a team, winning by 10 strokes. They went 17-under in the third and final round alone with four individuals placing in the top 10.
The trick will be to replicate that feat against an even tougher field this week. Among those in the 30-team field are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt, the only teams ranked ahead of ASU in the latest Golfstat top 25.
"Usually you go into a tournament hoping you're having two or three guys that can carry you," Thurmond said. "We have had really good rounds before but for that one to come when we really needed it, third round of the regional. Everybody played very well."
The top five finishers in each of the six regions earned the right to play in the championship event. ASU is one of five representatives from the Pac-12, with the others being rival Arizona, Oregon, Stanford and Utah.
The ASU quintet will likely consist of grad student Mason Andersen, senior Cameron Sisk, junior David Puig and freshmen Preston Summerhays and Jose Luis Ballester. The team is so deep that junior Ryggs Johnston, who finished third individually at 5-under 275 in last year's championship, won't be in the starting lineup this time around.
Puig, Sisk and Andersen were part of last year's ASU entry which advanced to the match play semifinal before losing to Oklahoma, which then lost the title match to Pepperdine. The Sun Devils had gone into match play as the top seed after finishing as the top team through the four rounds of stroke play.
Ballester, a native of Castellon, Spain, has been the team's breakout star this spring. He was not in the starting lineup in the fall but Thurmond decided to give him a shot after he fared well in an individual event that was held the same time the Sun Devils team was playing in an event in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Ballester then chalked some solid showings with a fourth-place finish at in the Pac-12 tournament in Washington and a fifth-place finish at the regional event.
Read more: Arizona State's Grace Summerhays writing next chapter of family's golf legacy
Andersen, a local product out of Hamilton High School, was the second-place individual overall at the regional with a three-day total of 10-under 206 that was just one stroke behind the medalist.
Puig made a triumphant return to the lineup in the regional after missing the previous two tournaments with a back injury. Senior James Leow played the first round but Thurmond substituted Puig for him in the second round and his No. 1 player responded with rounds of 69 and 67.
"I wanted to him (Puig) to be able to get a round or two in before this tournament," Thurmond said. "I wasn't sure how he'd do but felt like he needed to see where he was at and it was really great to see the way he performed."
A lot is expected of ASU based on its finish at the national event a year ago, the results the Sun Devils managed this season as well as the fact they have a sort of home course advantage, although the Raptor course at Grayhawk isn't one they play daily.
Thurmond said his team isn't putting too much pressure on itself to win, however.
"I don't think you can go in thinking it's win or bust. There are a lot of really good teams here and going in there thinking you have to win or it's a failure is the surest way to ensure that you don't win," Thurmond said.
NCAA Men's Golf Championships
Site: Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale
Dates: Friday, May 27, through Wednesday, June 1. Play starts at 6:30 a.m. the first three days and at 10 a.m. on Monday.
Format: There will be four rounds of stroke play with the field cut to 15 teams after the third round. After the fourth, the field is trimmed to eight for match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday. The championship between the final two teams will be Wednesday.
Defending champion: Pepperdine (defeated Oklahoma)
Teams in the field: Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Brigham Young, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Liberty, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Florida, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pepperdine, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest.
Individual qualifiers: Zack Byers, Gardner-Webb; Thomas Giroux, Oakland; Evan Lewis, South Carolina; R.J. Manke, Washington; Carson Berry, Oregon State; Adrian Vagberg, VCU.
Admission: None
TV: Portions aired on Golf Channel
Reach the reporter at Michelle.Gardner@gannett.com or 602 444-4783. Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU men's golf heads into the NCAA championship with momentum
