If there was any indication the ASU men's golf team might return to its traditional dominating form, last weekend in Hawaii was it.
The Sun Devils tied for seventh at the Taylor Made/Waikoloa Intercollegiate and used a remarkable round of 7-under par to jump five places in the standings on the final day. ASU's score (281) was the lowest round of the tournament.
"We're playing more like a team that wants to win and is not out there just to compete," ASU head coach Randy Lein said. "The Duke (Invitational) in the fall and Hawaii showed me this team is more like traditional ASU teams."
In Hawaii, ASU shot a 1-under 855 (290-284-281) and was 19 strokes off the pace of eventual winner UCLA. The Bruins had two impressive first rounds en route to shooting 836. They managed to fend off runner-up Texas Christian University by two strokes.
"UCLA is very hot out of the box," Lein said after watching the Bruins win last week and place second in Tucson two weeks ago at the Ping/Arizona Intercollegiate. "UCLA and TCU played so well nobody was going to catch them, but were heading in the right direction."
Houston, Oklahoma and Washington rounded out the top-five, all placing third with scores of 849.
Individually for ASU, junior Chez Reavie racked up another top-10 finish, scoring a 4-under par 68 on the final day to finish at 4-under 210 (72-70-68), good enough for eighth place.
"I think Chez is hitting well enough to win," Lein said. "He didn't make a lot of putts but his ball striking was very good. He's played solid."
Junior Ben Flam broke the top-20 by shooting a 2-under 212 (70-70-72) to tie for 16th. Senior Brady Stockton brushed off an opening round of 3-over to shoot 3-under in the final round and tie for 26th at even par 214 (75-70-69).
"Brady's been struggling the last two months but he pulled it together this time out," Lein said.
Sophomore Jesse Mueller placed 73rd with a 7-over 221 (73-76-72) and senior Mike Derminio rounded out Sun Devil finishers at 93rd with a 225 (78-74-73).
Medalist honors went to TCU's Adam Meyer (202).
Up next for the Sun Devils is the USC Cleveland Classic March 3 and 4. Lein is very positive about going into the USC tournament, saying his club has a track record of success at the event. Lower scores from his golfers, also gives him reason to be positive.
"I'm encouraged," Lein said. "I look to see steady improvement through the year and that is already happening. I feel much more encouraged than at this time last year."
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
