A rough start over the weekend once again spelled trouble for the ASU men's golf team.
The Sun Devils finished in a tie for eighth place at their home tournament, the Thunderbird Invitational, plagued by a first-round that left them 13 shots behind the leaders.
As a team, ASU shot a 4-over 856 in the tournament. Washington took the team title with a 13-under 839, two strokes ahead of UCLA.
ASU began to make a charge on the second 18 holes — the first two rounds were played Friday — and by day's end had moved into a tie for fourth.
Junior Jesper Kennegard carded a 4-under 67 in the second round, one in which the Sun Devils shot the lowest score in the field (276).
But the host squad couldn't keep up the pace in round three, as Kennegard's even-par 71 was the only mark not above par.
For the first time since the team's opening tournament of the spring, the Sun Devils finished without a golfer in the top 10, as Kennegard and senior Knut Borsheim tied for 24th (even-par 213) to lead ASU. Senior Braxton Marquez finished one stroke behind Kennegard and Borsheim to tie for 30th. Junior James Byrne tied for 49th with a 5-over 218 and junior Scott Pinckney shot a six-over 219 to tie for 57th.
San Diego State's J.J. Spaun was the individual champion of the tournament, chipping in a shot from the rough during a playoff on the 18th hole to claim the victory at 8-under par.
While ASU didn't fare well as a team, it got several surprising results from golfers competing as unattached individuals.
Sophomore Spencer Fletcher shot a career-low 64 in the final round Saturday on his way to posting a 2-under 211, good enough to tie for 16th.
Freshman Jin Song carded a one-over 214 to tie for 30th.
The Sun Devils will next be in action beginning Sunday at the U.S. Intercollegiate hosted by Stanford.
