The defending Pac-10 champion ASU men’s golf team will enter the 2009 season with plenty of reason to be optimistic.

The team finished sixth in the NCAA Ping/Golfweek Preview, a 54-hole event in September in Toledo, Ohio. The event was played on the same course that will host the NCAA Championships in May.

Sun Devil coach Randy Lein is very optimistic about his team’s chances.

“We have the youngest team that made it to postseason last year,” Lein said. “We have a lot of depth on this team. It will be interesting to see as the season progresses who ends up playing in postseason.”

While last year’s conference champions will return all of their golfers this season, NCAA men’s golf will undergo some changes to the structure of the postseason format. 

There will now be six Regionals that will advance five teams from each to the NCAA Championships. Last year, there were three Regionals with 10 teams from each moving on to the championships.

With this new format, the 30 advancing teams will go on to play 54 holes of stroke play at the national tournament, which will then declare the champion.

The top eight teams from the tournament will then move on to match play and will be seeded according to their final score in the stroke play segment. The team that wins three rounds of match play will win the national champion title.

Lein said he sees the changes to the postseason as ultimately a good thing.

“Initially I was not in favor of the changes because a lot of the conversation about changing the format was about making it more exciting, but last year’s finish could not have been more exciting,” Lein said. “Match play could enable a team that is not as strong to have a better chance of winning.”

Lein said the new format is entirely different but still competitive because you have to make it into the top 8.

“The best team is going to play the weakest team, so it’s a built-in advantage,” Lein said. “Match play is more exciting, but instead of a top 10 it is more of a lead eight, like in the NBA.”

The team will be taking six golfers to Hawaii next week for the Big Island Invitational from Feb. 4-6.

Lein said the experience the team has gained will lead to increased confidence and an ability to manage the bad days.

“You measure how good a team is by how well the individuals play,” Lein said.

A main component in the success of the upcoming season will be the play of sophomore Sweden native Jesper Kennegard, who his coach said is one of the top-20 golfers in the nation.

“Kennegard just came back from Sweden, where he’s from, so he hasn’t actually picked up a golf club in a while,” Lein said. “He is refreshed and excited for the season.”

Some other members of the squad that Lein expects big things from this season are junior Tristan Bierenbroodspot and freshmen Chan Kim.

Reach the reporter at allison.carlin@asu.edu.