The early season struggles for the ASU men’s golf team were baffling, especially coming from a squad full of so much experience.
In the final tournament of the fall, ASU responded with a fifth place finish at The Prestige at PGA West, its second highest tournament finish of the fall season.
The Prestige was held at the TPC Stadium Course in La Quinta, Calif., where the Sun Devils fired a team score of 876, which was good for 12 over par.
“We stayed in fifth, which is obviously better than our last two outings, but [we] still are not where we want to be,” ASU coach Randy Lein said. “On a positive side, it was great to see Thomas [Buran] solidify his position on the team, and watching Jesper [Kennegard] play. I saw a lot of good things with him.”
Senior Thomas Buran made his presence known with a second place finish in the tournament. Buran followed his first and second round scores of 68 and 74 by matching his first round success with another 68 on Tuesday.
“I played really well this week,” Buran said. “This is the best finish I’ve had in college. I putted and chipped really well. I made quite a few putts and that obviously helps in a tournament like this.”
Buran has fought a strained back in recent weeks, but Lein was glad to have him back in his starting lineup.
“The highlight for us was the play of Thomas Buran,” Lein said. “Today he was three over after four holes and brought it all the way back to four under par. That’s awfully impressive right there. He made a statement for the team.”
ASU senior Jesper Kennegard was in the top ten hunt for the first two rounds of the tournament after he unleashed a 71 and 72 to open the event, but saw his score jump to a 76 on day three and finished The Prestige in a tie for 17th place.
“Jesper didn’t quite hit it as well [Tuesday],” Lein said. “He went double-double back-to-back, and shot four over. He’s close to being back to where we expect him to be: to play like a three-time All American.”
ASU senior Scott Pinckney also finished in a several player tie for 17th place after he steadily improved throughout the tournament and finished with a 71 in the third round.
ASU junior Phil Francis improved upon his round two score of 79 with a 73 in the tournament finale. The finish jumped Francis ten spots to tie for 50th place on the leader board.
After being disqualified on Monday due to scorecard issues, ASU junior Spencer Fletcher responded with a 78 on Tuesday.
ASU won’t return to competition until Feb. 2, 2011 at the Hilo Big Island Invitational in Hawaii.
Although the Sun Devils did not achieve the results they desired throughout the fall, they are focused on continued improvement heading into the spring schedule.
“We still aren’t where we want to be,” Buran said. “We had a team meeting, sat down, and set a bunch of goals that we want to do in the offseason to try and improve our game. The only goal to have is really to win. Our goal is to prepare well enough where we are putting ourselves in positions to win.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
