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ASU men's golf takes home second straight win in comeback fashion

Junior Jon Rahm tees off at the 10th hole of the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open on Jan. 30, 2015. (Andrew Ybanez/The State Press)
Junior Jon Rahm tees off at the 10th hole of the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open on Jan. 30, 2015. (Andrew Ybanez/The State Press)

Junior Jon Rahm tees off at the 10th hole of the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open on Jan. 30, 2015. (Andrew Ybanez/The State Press) Junior Jon Rahm tees off at the 10th hole of the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open on Jan. 30, 2015. (Andrew Ybanez/The State Press)

In what was the ASU men’s golf team's most difficult field of the year, the team took home its second straight team title after winning the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii this weekend.

The team went into the final round on Saturday in fourth place, nine strokes out of the lead and behind some of the top schools in the nation. The Sun Devils were able to get a great round from junior Max Rottluff and catapulted themselves into first place to win with a team score of 826 (38-under par).

“It was a huge victory for the team,” head coach Tim Mickelson said. “But I think more importantly the guys are starting to believe what I’ve known for a while, that we’re one of the best teams in the country.”

That will certainly be hard to argue after winning an event that included three teams in Golfweek’s top-10. It was the most difficult field the team has faced not only so far in the spring but overall this year.

“To be the best you have to beat the best, right?” Mickelson said. “So for us to go up against the best teams in the nation and get the win, that’s huge for making a statement of what we’re capable of.”

Mickelson feels what they’re capable of hasn’t even truly been seen just yet.

“Even though this team has won, I don’t think we’ve seen what the best this team has to offer yet,” he said.

We certainly saw some of the best that Rottluff had to offer on Saturday as he shot a career-low 64 (8-under) with nine total birdies including a key birdie on this last hole to help secure his team a victory. His overall score of 11-under par was good for a tie for eighth place in the event.

Rottluff, junior Jon Rahm, sophomore Nicolo Galletti and freshman Tobias Eden all birdied their last holes, which helped to ward off any potential comebacks from the Washington Huskies or the University of Southern California Trojans.

“It was impressive stuff coming down the stretch,” Mickelson said. “I don’t think they knew how close we were, but that’s even more important that they were able to do it. They just kept fighting.”

Rahm, who is coming off of a top-five finish at a PGA Tour event last weekend, tied with his teammate Rottluff with an overall score of 11-under par. Rahm could have had a letdown at this event, especially since he was originally under the impression that his finish at the Phoenix Open would give him an exemption for the PGA event this week, but he played well in Hawaii.

“In the PGA Tour, you have perfect greens, you have perfect lies on every fairway and every chip. In college it’s not always like that,” Mickelson said. “So for him to be able to still play very solid was impressive.”

Mickelson also said Rahm’s performance shows how mentally strong he is as a golfer, and how much he loves playing for his team.

Galletti and Eden both finished the event under par, with Galletti at 6-under and Eden at 8-under. The final player in the lineup, junior Alberto Sanchez, finished at 3-over par but had a good final round on Saturday shooting 1-under par and scored an eagle on hole four.

The field at The Prestige, the team’s next event in California, is going to be just as strong as the one this week in Hawaii. So while Mickelson is pleased for his team to score their second straight win, he knows there is a lot of time left in the season.

“We aren't complacent and I won't let us get complacent,” Mickelson said. “We have too much to accomplish still.”

Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or on Twitter @bill_slane

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