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Men’s golf finishes fourth at Topy Cup

TIGHT SPOT: Senior golfer Scott Pinckney contemplates a shot during an event last season. Pinckey was one of five ASU golfers that helped bring home a fourth place finish at the Topy Cup in Tokyo over the weekend. (Photo Courtesy of Steve Rodriguez)
TIGHT SPOT: Senior golfer Scott Pinckney contemplates a shot during an event last season. Pinckey was one of five ASU golfers that helped bring home a fourth place finish at the Topy Cup in Tokyo over the weekend. (Photo Courtesy of Steve Rodriguez)

The ASU men’s golf team capped off an extraordinary trip to Japan with a fourth place finish at the prestigious Topy Cup in Tokyo over the weekend.

It was a once in a lifetime event for ASU as they faced stiff competition throughout the Topy Cup. ASU battled UA, Texas A&M, and Fresno State. As if the American opponents weren’t enough, the event featured elite collegiate golf talent from Japan as well.

ASU finished the first two rounds strong, entering the final day of the event in third place, but struggled in the third round and fell to fourth.

Junior Phil Francis’ score of 210 came in as the top score for the Sun Devils. Francis, who is playing his first season for ASU after transferring from UCLA, shot a 71 in his first round on the par 72 course and followed up in round two with a seven under 65. He wrapped up the weekend with a two over 74.

Seniors Scott Pinckney and Thomas Buran rounded out the top ASU scores with 211 and 213, respectively. Like Francis, Pinckney started strong with opening rounds of 68 and 69, but slipped in the final round, shooting a 74.

“We ran into a Japanese team that has a player that was phenomenal,” ASU assistant coach Mickey Yokoi said. “They kind of ran over everybody.”

Japan’s very own Tohoku Fukushi University took home the victory, beating out second place Texas A&M by 12 strokes.

While the Sun Devils were unable to bring home the victory, Yokoi was pleased with several individual performances by ASU.

“It’s nice to see Phil [Francis] get off to a good start in his first tournament as a Sun Devil,” Yokoi said. “Thomas [Buran] was a walk on last year for us, and he’s turned out to be a really good player. He’s only going to help us.”

This year’s Topy Cup was held at the Tanagura Country Club, which provided a strong challenge for ASU in its season opener.

“It was a great course,” Pinckney said. “It wasn’t playing too difficult, but you could definitely score on it. It was in great shape, it was a good test.”

While the Sun Devils competed well against some of America’s elite collegiate golfers, as well as Japan’s talented group, the trip also provided ASU with an exciting opportunity to experience Japan.

“It was so cool,” Pinckney said. “The whole town of Tokyo, it’s insane, it’s just so big. There’s so many people.”

When not competing on the fairways and greens, the Sun Devils traveled throughout the city of Tokyo and enjoyed many aspects of the Japanese culture ranging from the quick transportation to the cuisine.

“We took the bullet train there, and that was just crazy,” Pinckney said. “The train just goes shooting by you. You’re ten feet away from it and it’s going 140 mph by you. That was pretty sweet.”

Throughout the city of Tokyo, the Sun Devils overcame the language barrier and experienced a variety of Japanese cuisines.

“We tried a bunch of new stuff, every meal they had rice,” Pinckney said. “It was hard to find restaurants that were good because you couldn’t read the menus; you had to go places where they had English menus. I was pretty happy with it; I was expecting worse.”

The Sun Devils travel again this weekend as they head to Chicago for the Olympia Fields Invitational.

Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu


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