Beating a handful of Pac-10 teams didn’t make up for a low finish as the ASU men’s golf team placed sixth in the annual USC Invitational on Tuesday.
The Sun Devils never contended, finishing 19 strokes back from the winner, San Diego State. However, there were some bright spots in the tournament.
ASU senior Scott Pinckney finished in second, just two shots back from the winner, UCLA freshman Patrick Cantlay. Pinckney used an eagle on his second hole on the final round to propel him to his second place finish.
“I knew I was finally back in the tournament,” Pinckney said. “I had a chance.”
During the tournament, ASU was paired with three teams that were ranked ahead of them in No. 23 Washington, No. 17 California and USC. The Sun Devils finished ahead of all three, but couldn’t beat the surprising tournament play from Oregon and UC Davis, who both finished in the top five despite being projected as two of the lower-ranked teams in the tournament.
The Sun Devils’ biggest surprise came by how they finished their tournament, which was contrary to the other tournaments as the team had their best round on the final day.
The team has been challenging first place in the third round in the past two tournaments, but have fallen off as of late.
“We keep pressing all these different buttons waiting for the right combination,” ASU coach Randy Lein said.
Another bright spot for ASU was junior Phillip Francis’ final round score of a 2-under-par 69, and coupled with Pinckney’s best round, 4-under-par 67, it allowed ASU to shoot a third round score 1-over-par.
“It was good to see both Scott and Phil play well today and help us at least stay ahead of several of the Pac-10 schools including host USC, so that was nice,” Lein said.
The tournament was split among two days, causing the teams to play their first round and most of their second round on the first day, which meant that the teams played the last four or five holes of their second round on the second day.
“You have to prepare yourself and make sure that you reserve your energy,” Pinckney said. “It’s hard to say if it hurt us or helped us but we are a pretty fit team.”
The main problem for the Sun Devils was to retain their focus after a disappointing first round.
“If you’re playing two rounds in one day, it’s really tough to keep going if you’re playing bad,” Pinckney said. “Theirs is so many holes that if you’re not playing good it’s going to be a tough day.”
ASU senior Jesper Kennegard had that rough day, and last year’s All-American didn’t record a round better than a 4-over-par 75.
Kennegard needed to play better, Lein said, but ASU’s next tournament, the Southern Highlands Invitational, was won by Kennegard last year, leaving Lein optimistic that he will regain his form.
As for Pinckney, it was easy to pick out a reason for his success in the Invitational.
“I stayed patient,” Pinckney said. “We are playing 27 holes a day, from sunup to sundown and it’s a lot of golf. So I just stayed patient and let the birdies come.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
