The ASU men’s golf team finally broke through, finishing tied for first despite playing against a beatable field at the Cullum Invitational.
Three Sun Devils finished in the top ten including senior Spencer Fletcher, who tied for the win. Fletcher shot an 8-under-par 208 to record his first-ever career victory. His victory had to be shared with sophomore Tyler Torano from Loyola Marymount University, as the tournament didn’t have a playoff.
After fog delayed the start of the third round for over an hour, the tournament changed the format to a shotgun start but still ended up finishing later than it was expected.
“When we got there Tuesday morning we couldn’t see anything,” Fletcher said. “When you get there you just kind of stood around for awhile. You’re not really sure when you’re going to go. So you have to go warm up and warm up again. You just try to stay loose.”
The fog delay ended up being the reason why there wasn’t a playoff, as ASU had no choice but to leave because of travel concerns. Fletcher said that it would still count as a tie in the record books anyway.
“It would have just taken too long,” Fletcher said. “We would have been cutting it close to our flight and it was just too much of a hassle. They only had one (trophy). So they gave it to him because he is from LMU.
“So he’s driving home and they’re going to mail us another one.”
Also finishing in the top ten for ASU was freshman Mathias Schjoelberg, who tied for tenth, and freshman Stan Gauthier, who tied for sixth. Both captured career-highs.
Gauthier led the field with 15 birdies throughout the tournament. He was also one of only six players in the field to shoot the par-four’s on even par or better, a category in which ASU led the field.
Schjoelberg scored his third and fourth eagles of the season on the first day. They were a focal point of his 5-under-par 67 second round score.
“I was trying to take advice from (Schjoelberg),” Fletcher said. “They are both great players; they know what they’re doing. It’s just been a matter of them getting comfortable.”
The win was critical to that team, as it vaulted ASU to three wins over .500. In order to qualify for the postseason, the team needs to stay above that line, per NCAA regulations.
As much as a win was great for a team that was struggling early on this fall, the competition wasn’t quite as tough as the Sun Devils have been accustomed to.
“The guys are excited about it,” coach Tim Mickelson. “I don’t think it’s anything we should be surprised with, because we basically did what we expected to have to here.
It was ASU’s first team win since fall 2008, and first Sun Devil individual win since spring of 2010.
The Cullum Invitational was the men’s last tournament of the fall season, and will get a long break before competing in the Hilo Big Island Intercollegiate on February 2-3.
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
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