(Tempe, AZ) No. 4/5 Sun Devil Men’s Golf has made it back its home national championship and will look to make it one better than the 2022 National Runner-Up team. ASU enters with two wins in its last three events, sandwiched around a second place finish at the Pac-12 Championship.
ASU will tee it off with Pac-12 foe Standard along with Texas Tech, beginning at 11:52 a.m. MST on the first hole Friday. The athletes go off at 11:52, 12:03, 12:14, 12:25 and 12:36. The same pairs will go ahead Saturday beginning at 6:32 a.m. on the 10th tee. Pairs beyond that point have not been announced.
THE COURSE
Grayhawk Golf Club has hosted the last the three NCAA National Championships and is located in Scottsdale, less than 25 miles from ASU’s home.
The course measures 7,289 yards and is a par 70.
THE FORMAT
Squads will play four rounds – 18 holes per day from Friday – Monday – before the top eight teams advance to match play.
Should the Sun Devils advance, the schedule calls for the national quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday, before the national match Wednesday.
Teams will be seeded 1-8 with the following matchups: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4, vs. 5.
THE LINEUP
The Sun Devils will roll out their All-Pac-12 lineup of Preston Summerhays (1), Josele Ballester (2), Michael Mjaaseth (3), Luke Potter (4), Ryggs Johnston (5).
ELITE EIGHT
The Sun Devils have now made the NCAA Finals in the past eight seasons, the fourth-best mark in the nation. Texas (16), Oklahoma (12) and Vanderbilt (9) are the only schools with longer streaks.
DANGER ZONE
Getting to Grayhawk isn’t easy, as nine teams ranked in the Golfstat top 30 after regional action had their season’s end in 2023. That’s up from eight-such team’s not escaping regionals in 2022.
The Sun Devils have now made the NCAA Finals in the past eight seasons, the fourth-best mark in the nation. Texas (16), Oklahoma (12) and Vanderbilt (9) are the only schools with longer streaks.
REGIONAL MADNESS
ASU’s performance at the Las Vegas Regional shattered program and NCAA records.
The 59-under 805 was ASU’s lowest three-round tournament score in program history.
It was also the lowest score vs. par an ASU team has ever had.
Additionally, it shattered both of the same records for any team to ever compete in an NCAA Regional.
62 (SIXTY TWO)
Preston Summerhays fired a ridiculous 10-under in the opening round of the 2023 Las Vegas Regional.
He fired two eagles on the front-nine and carded a bogey-free back-nine. He birdied the first three holes of the back-9 and the last two, going 5-under on both the front and back. He totaled seven birdies and just one bogey in the round.
He became the just the fifth Sun Devils to fire a 62-or-better card.
The 10-under card is just the third for Arizona State in the Golfstat era. Of the other two, only Paul Casey’s 10-under 60 in the 1999 Pac-12 Championship came in postseason play.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Arizona State has 122-20-2 record on the season, per Golfweek.
Per the Golfweek rankings, ASU has the most wins of any team in the nation against both Top 25 (56-19-2) and Top 50 (84-20-2) foes.
It’s also not close. ASU has a seven-win edge against anyone else over top 25 teams, while the Sun Devils have 78 wins over top 50 teams and no one else has more than 60.
HASKINS WATCH
Preston Summerhays was named Final Haskins Award Watch List on Monday, May 22.
He is one of 10 men’s college golfers on the list for the prize of the best in the country. Voting for the 2023 Haskins Award opened on the 22nd. It will remain open until the completion of the stroke play on May 29.
Phil Mickelson won three straight Haskins Awards and Billy Mayfair picked up the first honor in team history in 1987 for ASU’s first honor.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Josh Schwam
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