![[year first name lastname] grins after sinking a putt in the Thunderbird Invitational tournament on Saturday, April 4, 2015 at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/asp/bd792ee6-2aca-4b94-ac9e-17543174d0c0.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000)
The ASU men’s golf team earned the top seed at the San Diego regional from May 14-16. The regional, hosted by 9-seed San Diego, will be played at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
With the top five teams advancing in each regional, ASU has a pretty good shot at doing so considering the Sun Devils have only finished below fourth once all season, and that was in the season opener.
Since regional format began in 1989, ASU has only not qualified for the round once (2012) and has not made it to NCAA championship round three times (2002, 2012, 2014). ASU finished sixth at the Columbia, Missouri, regional last season.
The Sun Devils have improved since then, and the team is arguably the school's top athletic program, behind a duo that Pac-12 Coach of the Year Tim Mickelson likened to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Junior Jon Rahm, the No. 2 ranked player according to Golfweek, leads ASU with a 68.79 stroke average in 2014-15. If Rahm's mark holds, it would be the best single-season mark in program history. Fellow Junior Max Rottluff is ranked No 9, but ASU doesn't have any other players ranked in the top 100.
No. 1 Illinois, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 9 South Carolina earned the other No. 1 seeds at NCAA regionals.
Teams at San Diego regional:
1. No. 6 ASU
2. No. 10 Georgia Tech
3. No. 15 Oklahoma
4. No. 23 New Mexico
5. No. 25 Virginia
6. No. 29 Georgia
7. No. 41 East Tennessee State
8. No. 49 Ole Miss
9. No. 56 San Diego
10. No. 57 Idaho
11. No. 69 St. Mary’s (California)
12. No. 87 Wichita State
13. No. 164 Eastern Kentucky
Reach the sports editor at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter
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