Max Rottluff poses with his championship plaque and Pat Tillman honorary golf bag. (Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
Junior golfer Max Rottluff took home his first ever individual title as a Sun Devil after shooting 9-under over three rounds in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational this week.
Rottluff, who carried the Pat Tillman golf bag during the tournament in Fairfax, California, ended with 14 birdies and two eagles. The first eagle came on his first hole of the second round.
“The impressive thing to me is that Max did not feel great about his golf game this week,” coach Tim Mickelson said. “True champions find a way to score well when they don’t feel good about their game and things aren’t going exactly their way.”
Rottluff’s 14 birdies and two eagles will also increase the donations to the Pat Tillman Foundation at the end of the year.
“I think it’s a really cool story that he won while using the Pat Tillman bag,” Mickelson said.
Despite not feeling good about it, Rottluff may be playing at the top of his game at the moment.
His sixth place finish at the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate two weeks ago was in the top-3 finishes of his career.
Following that finish up with an individual title while playing in worse conditions than in Pullman is impressive.
The winds in Pullman made it difficult to get much going for anyone at the tournament, but the winds in Fairfax the past two days may have been even worse.
“I’ve never seen winds swirl like they did today,” Mickelson said. “You could literally within seconds feel it coming from every direction and it was just that way the entire day.”
There was also some precipitation throughout the day that may have also made playing more difficult.
“No heavy rain or anything like that,” Mickelson said. “But just enough to get the jacket wet and maybe get the grip wet a little bit.”
The winds at in Pullman were “stiffer” according to Mickelson, which made it more predictable to play; the winds in Fairfax being more swirling made it more of a challenge.
As a team, the Sun Devils were in first place after the first two rounds leading the host school, the Cal Golden Bears, by two strokes. They finished in second behind Cal after struggling as a team on the last day and finishing at 11-under par. The team’s 8-over score on the last day put them two strokes behind Cal.
“Cal is a good team, and they are a great team on their own golf course” Mickelson said. “So there’s nothing to hang our heads at because of that finish, but we’re here to win tournaments. We’re not going to be content with finishing second to those guys."
It will be a quicker turnaround for the team this week as they will be traveling to California again for the Bill Cullum Invitational in Simi Valley next Monday.
“We’re looking forward for having another chance to compete next week,” Mickelson said. “It gives us another chance to get in contention to win, and every time we put ourselves in contention we gain valuable experience.”
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @bill_slane
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