The ASU men’s golf team shot the best round of any team in the field at the U.S. Intercollegiate on Monday in Stanford, Calif., but it was not enough to make up for also shooting one of the worst.
Plagued again by a poor start amid miserable weather conditions during Monday’s first round, the Sun Devils finished the first 18 holes of the par-70 Stanford Golf Course with a 29-over 307, putting them well behind the field’s leaders.
As a result, even an 8-under 272 in the second round — a 37-stroke improvement from the first round — was not enough to make up the ground, and ASU finished the tournament after Tuesday’s final round in 10th place with a 16-over 856, 17 strokes behind event champion Oregon.
The Sun Devils also notched the second-best third round in the field, a 5-under 275, but the rough first round, which featured no ASU golfer shooting better than 5-over, gave the team little hope to finish among the leaders.
The tournament’s first round was originally scheduled for Sunday, but inclement weather pushed tee times to Monday, when the teams packed in 36 holes between several further weather delays.
In the first round, three ASU golfers — juniors Jesper Kennegard, Scott Pinckney and James Byrne — posted scores of 9-over par 79. Sophomore Spencer Fletcher, playing in his first tournament as a scoring member of the team, carded a 6-over 76 and senior Knut Borsheim tallied the low-round score for the team with a 5-over 75.
But the players found their stroke on the second 18, led by Kennegard’s tournament low-round tying 6-under 64. The round for the Sweden native included seven birdies and just one bogey. Kennegard followed the stellar second round with a 4-under 66 in Tuesday’s final round, making him ASU’s top finisher with a 1-under 209.
The finish put Kennegard in a tie for 11th, as the junior narrowly missed what would have been his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
Finishing behind Kennegard was Borsheim, who followed his first-round 75 with second- and third-round scores of 69 and 70, respectively, putting him in a tie for 29th at 4-over par.
Byrne tied for 31st with a 215 (79-68-68), Pinckney tied for 64th with a 222 (79-71-72) and Fletcher recorded a 226 (76-79-71) to finish in a tie for 79th to round out the scoring for ASU.
Oregon’s Daniel Miernicki took medalist honors with an 8-under 202.
The Sun Devils will now gear up for postseason play with the Pac-10 Championships teeing off at ASU’s Karsten Golf Course on April 26.
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
