Following the first day of play, the No. 4 ASU men's golf team is looking like it will follow suit at the Pac-10 Championships in Tucson and walk away with their third team victory in a row.
The Sun Devils are tied for first with host UA after Monday's 36-hole opening day marathon. ASU fired a first round 357, followed by a second round 363, to finish with a 720 (+3) heading into today's third round.
Senior Chez Reavie led the way for the Sun Devils, as he fired a two-round total 139 (-5) and positioned himself in a tie for second, only four shots back of leader Brock Mackenzie from Washington.
ASU is coming off of back-to-back wins in the state of Arizona, as it won both the National Invitation Tourn-ament in Tucson, and then followed up with a record-setting victory as the host of the Thunderbird Invitational.
"We have a lot of momentum in our favor right now," head coach Randy Lein said. "To not only win, but win against the caliber of teams we have played is big heading into the Pac-10's."
Momentum has been on the Sun Devils side the entire season, as it has four total victories, tied for the second most in the country. The four victories are also the most for an ASU team since the 1999-2000 season.
ASU has had a lot of success at the Pac-10 Championships, wining 11 titles in 25 years, which included a string of six straight from 1995-2000.
Since 2000, the Sun Devils have been unable to claim another title. However, they are looking to break that streak on the 7,412-yard par 72 Gallery at Dove Mountain Golf Course.
"We've played well in the past few tournaments," Lein said. "Hopefully this week we'll continue to play well and win another Pac-10 Championship.
No. 2 UCLA won last year's tournament, and is one of the favorites this year.
"[UA] has played as well as anyone in the Pac-10 right now," Lein said. "They will be playing at home and will be tough to beat as well as UCLA, who is a proven team."
The Sun Devils are bringing six golfers to the tournament, yet only the low-five team scores will count.
ASU is led by Reavie, who will be making the final Pac-10 Championship appearance of his career. The Arizona native takes a 70.84 stroke average into the tournament, along with seven top-ten finishes on the year.
"As a team we are playing great, we are playing as good as we ever have," Reavie said. "We've won a lot, so I think we should win (this week) as well."
Reavie will also be looking for the first collegiate win -- something that has eluded him his entire collegiate career.
"As a personal goal, I want to win my first tournament," Reavie said. "I've been in contention all year; hopefully this week I can knock down that wall and get my first win."
Joining Reavie will be defending NCAA Champion sophomore Alejandro Canizares. Canizares has a 71.09 stroke average and has three career tournament victories, with the most recent win coming in last week's Thunderbird Invitational.
Freshman Niklas Lemke (72.9 stroke average), junior Jesse Mueller (73.14 stroke average), junior Kendall Critchfield (74.08 stroke average) and senior Mike Derminio (72.83 stroke average) round out the rest of the team competing for the Sun Devils.
Reach the Reporter at Matt.Reinick@asu.edu.
