The ASU professional golf management team, made up of agribusiness undergraduate students, recently found success at the Southwest Showdown in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 16-17.
After playing three rounds in two days, ASU worked its way to a hard-fought victory over the three other schools in the tournament.
Competing at the Pauite Golf Resort, the Sun Devils squared off against three other PGM teams from the southwest. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, New Mexico State and UNLV all competed alongside ASU.
“We ultimately wanted to prove that Arizona State University has the best golfers in the southwest region,” Angela LeVangie said.
LeVangie, Rob Hammer, Eric Heddleston, Yong Kim, Damon Krause and Ryan Wingate represented ASU in Las Vegas.
The Southwest Showdown was broken down into three rounds of golf. The first round was played under alternate shot format, the second under the four-ball format and the third under the scramble format.
The first round kicked off Monday morning with the pair of Heddleston and LeVangie teeing off against a pair from UNLV. The duo lost their match 7–5. Hammer and Krause helped get ASU two points with their match victory over a team from UCCS by a match score of 7–5. The third squad of Kim and Wingate closed out the first round for ASU with a 3–2 victory over a NMSU team.
After a break between rounds, the second round of four-ball kicked off later that day with Kim and LeVangie starting for the Sun Devils. The pair got two points for the school with their one-stroke victory over UNLV. Hammer and Heddleston were paired up for the second round, but the match ended 5–3 in favor of a team from UCCS. The final ASU duo of Krause and Wingate won their match 4–3 to give the Sun Devils two more points heading into the final round.
Heddleston and Wingate started off the third round for ASU with a victory over UNLV with the match final being 2–1. The success carried on with the pair of Hammer and Kim as they finished their match 3–1 over a UCCS team, giving ASU two more points to the team total. The final ASU team of LeVangie and Krause was not able to keep up the trend, and they lost their match 2–1.
The Sun Devils won the tournament by accumulating 12 points over the course of the three rounds.
“It was very difficult conditions for the event, with sustained winds at 15 mph and gusts up to 30 mph,” coach Geoffrey Huston said. “Our students played very well over the course of the event. The last day, it came down to the last match and our students found a way to win that match and win the event.”
Reach the reporter at talopez3@asu.edu
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