The ASU men’s golf team is getting ready to start its spring season in Tucson for the Arizona Intercollegiate. The two-day tournament starts Monday at the Sewailo Golf Club.
Like most men's golf tournaments, the teams will be playing two rounds on the first day and the final round the second day. The 36-hole first day begins 8 a.m. Monday morning.
The tournament includes 15 teams with No. 21 California and No. 20 New Mexico being the two top ranking teams in the field. ASU, Arizona and California are the only Pac-12 teams in the field.
Not surprisingly with the Phoenix Open starting this week, junior Jon Rahm will be missing this tournament in Tucson as he continues to prepare for the PGA event at TPC Scottsdale.
The lineup for the Sun Devils for the event will include freshman Tobias Eden, junior Alberto Sanchez, sophomore Nicolo Galletti, junior Max Rottluff and senior Ben Shur. The Sun Devils will also have senior Broc Johnson golfing as an individual.
ASU missed the Arizona Intercollegiate last season, but the team is looking forward to competing in rival Arizona's home event. Last season the California Golden Bears took the team title with a 1-over and finished 14 strokes ahead of the Wildcats. Brandon Hagy and Joel Stalter from California shared the individual title both with a 2-under over the three rounds.
After three-straight second-place finishes to close out the fall season, the Sun Devils will be looking to keep that momentum going into the fall and perform well in Wildcat country. As head coach Tim Mickelson said after the team’s last fall tournament in Hawaii, both teams always look to play well in their rival’s home event.
In the Warrior Princeville Makai Invite to end the fall, Rottluff finished tied for 19th with a 6-under par while Galletti finished sixth at 14-under par. Both will look to take that success into the event in Tucson on Monday. Rottluff will be golfing in the No. 4 spot while Galletti will be in the No. 3 spot.
Shur participated in two tournaments in the fall semester. His most recent top-10 finish came at the Cowboy Southern Dunes in October where he shot 1-under for eighth place.
Eden recorded three top-20 finished in his first semester with the Sun Devils and will be golfing in the no. one spot in this event. Sanchez will be in the lineup for just the second time this season. He tied for 60th at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in October, when he was last in the lineup.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or on Twitter @bill_slane
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