The ASU men’s golf team finished tied for fifth as USC dominated the ASU Thunderbird Invitational en route to its first win of the spring season by a total of 14 strokes.
Senior Scott Pinckney led the Sun Devils, finishing tied for 12th overall. However, the team continued its streak of having a top-10 finisher as senior James Byrne, who competed as an individual, finished tied for ninth. The last time the team did not have a top-10 finish was in September of 2010. The streak also includes five different players.
For the Sun Devils, however, Sunday brought another disappointing finish in a spring season where they have not been able to crack the top four. Since ASU has now finished fifth in both its easiest and hardest tournaments, questions linger with only one tournament left before the postseason.
“We always tend to come along during postseason,” Pinckney said. “We have good enough players to win a championship. It looks like some of the guys are playing better. James had a good tournament, but we are all practicing hard and we should be ready.”
One bright spot for the team was senior Oscar Zetterwall’s hole-in-one on the par-3 16th hole on Saturday. He ended up recording his best finish of his ASU career placing tied for 24th.
“It was my second (ace), but my first in a tournament. It was a way better shot this time,” Zetterwall said. “I was hitting it pretty good overall, but I didn’t get it done with the putter. So I have got to work on that for next tournament.”
The Sun Devils also had to compete with bad weather on Saturday when winds and the cold cooled down the players’ momentum after a good first round.
ASU had to play two rounds on the first day and was in second after the first round, three strokes behind No. 9 San Diego State for the lead. Pinckney was in first place after scoring a 5-under-par 66, the lowest score he has ever shot on the ASU Karsten Course in tournament play. However, fatigue set in and ASU shot a tournament high, 8-over-par 292 for its second round.
“Thirty-six holes are tough,” Pinckney said. “If you play ok the first round it’s easy to be motivated to come back and play well the second 18, but when you shoot a low score for the first round and five minutes later you are teeing off again, it’s hard to regroup and refocus. I just wasn’t physically ready to play 36 holes in one day.”
Pinckney ended Saturday with a 3-over-par 74 second round.
It appeared to be a little emotional for the native Arizonan as he reflected on his past four years at ASU.
“My games gotten better, I had an absolutely great time here,” he said. “It is just unbelievable how fast it has gone. I am ready for my next step in my life but at the same time you look back and it’s like wow, it has already been four years and it is over.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
