The storybook season may have just one more page left.
After two rounds at the NCAA Championships, ASU men's golf sits in 24th place, needing to be in the top 15 by Sunday to advance into the final round of stroke play.
ASU tees off in the third round at 4 a.m. PDT, with every team not in ASU's pairing beginning later, meaning that the Sun Devils will be waiting afterward to find out whether they move on.
Based on the first two rounds, ASU likely needs to shoot below par just to have a chance at qualifying. If ASU does compete in the final round of stroke play, it would need to finish in the top 8 to advance into match play.
Team leaderboard after two rounds: ASU has a long way to climb to make match play or even final round of stroke play. pic.twitter.com/VT6TDaEyin
— Justin Janssen (@JJanssen11) May 31, 2015
The NCAA Championship round has proven difficult even for the most accomplished teams coming in, with fellow regional one-seeds Texas, South Carolina and Florida State not projected to make match play. Not advancing would be particularly hurtful for ASU, given the the progress it has made under Tim Mickelson, recovering from not even making a regional in 2011-12 to gaining elite status this year.
ASU won five tournaments in 2014-15 and junior Jon Rahm won the 2015 Ben Hogan Award, given to men's college golf's best player.
Rahm (+2) leads ASU after shooting a 71-75 in the first two rounds, though the 75 second round was his worst of any since the team's second tournament of the year. Rahm won the Ben Hogan Award, given to men's college golf's best player.
At one point, junior Max Rottluff (+5) looked like he might contend for the individual title, birdieing five of his first eight holes on Friday, but faded since. He was 4-over on his final nine holes on Friday and shot 6-over overall Saturday.
Sophomore Ki Taek Lee (+13) had been playing well entering the tournament, moving all the way up to the team's No. 3 spot. In the first round he struggled, carding an 83 with two triple bogeys. He ended up leading ASU in the second round with a 2-over 74, but that was marred by double-bogeying the final hole.
Senior Broc Johnson (+13) had four triple bogeys in his first two rounds, which all counted toward ASU's score because Johnson's 78-79 was not the drop score on either round.
Here's ASU's lineup after two rounds: pic.twitter.com/wNo0Fk8NeA
— Justin Janssen (@JJanssen11) May 31, 2015
Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter.
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