The second day of the Pac-12 Men's and Women's Championships was not the best for ASU golf as they shot their highest scores of the tournament so far.
The day started off well enough for the men, as they finished with a score of 360 on the second round that was stopped on Friday due to darkness. Their score was the third-lowest in the round among every team in the tournament.
The red hot second round was highlighted by the play of sophomore Max Rottluff, who shot 4-under par with a score of 68 making him one of only six golfers in the field of 72 to have a score of under 70 in any round.
The good times would not keep rolling for the Sun Devils as they shot 24-over par in a third round marked by rainfall and high winds. Coach Tim Mickelson said the weather continues to spoil any momentum.
"The conditions were very difficult today. The day started with 15 to 20 mile-per-hour winds then about two hours into the round we got some heavy rain for about an hour," Mickelson said. "The team actually had a pretty good round going up until the time the rain came. We played poorly in the rain and then all our momentum was lost for the rest of the round."
ASU's current team score of 1123 is 19 strokes behind second place California but 40 strokes behind first place Stanford. Coach Mickelson does not expect miracles but he wants to see improvement from his team in the final round, as well as to beat their in-state rivals.
"The goal tomorrow will be to try to slide into fourth place and obviously stay ahead of Arizona," Mickelson said. "In order to do those two things must happen. We must keep the ball in play off the tee and we must putt better on the greens."
Rottluff and junior Austin Quick lead the Sun Devils with scores of 223 thus far into the tournament, 7-over par. Junior Broc Johnson (11-over 227), sophomore Jon Rahm (13-over 229) and freshmen Blake Cannon (14-over 230) and Nicolo Galletti (15-over 231) round out the Sun Devil squad.
The women's golf team followed up their score of 291 on the first round with a 296 on the second. Junior Noemi Jimenez lead the way for the Sun Devils with a 2-under par score of 70. Freshman Monica Vaughn, who scored a 70 on the first round, could not keep up the momentum and shot a 76 on the second day.
Senior Justine Lee shot 2-over par for 74, junior Emilie Alonso shot 4-over for 76 and senior Laura Blanco shot 5-over for 77.
ASU, in sixth place after the second round, is 14 strokes behind first place UCLA and will look to finish the tournament strong on Sunday.
Stanford junior Patrick Rodgers continues to hold the best individual score in the men's tournament with an overall score of 7-under par with 209. In the women's tournament, first place is shared by junior Erynne Lee of UCLA and Arizona sophomore Lindsey Weaver with 4-under par scores of 140.
Tee times will be early for both ASU teams tomorrow as they are in the first groups in their respective tournaments.
Reach the reporter at hkossodo@asu.edu or on Twitter @HKossodo
