Looking to bounce back from a disheartening performance in San Diego, the ASU men’s golf team returned to California, where they fell into a bigger funk.
The Sun Devils finished 11th out of 14 teams in the North Ranch Intercollegiate Classic located near Thousand Oaks, Calif., with a plus-72, 912 aggregate score.
“Extremely disappointed probably would be the best way to put it,” ASU coach Tim Mickelson said.
Despite a field that was considerably weaker than the previous two this spring season, the Sun Devils still found themselves in the bottom portion of the standings for nearly the entire invitational.
ASU shot 302 during the opening round, putting them in ninth. Early in the second round, ASU was near the top half of the field.
However, the Sun Devils then squandered a chance to move into the upper half of the field and responded with a 310 second round that same day.
The 18th hole in particular gave ASU all sorts of problems. For the five ASU golfers, they shot 16-over par on the hole, which is an average of more than a bogey per person.
During the first day, wicked winds wreaked havoc, causing crooked scores across the board.
“That’s why the scores were so high,” Mickelson said. “Yesterday, we had extremely high winds and wind gusts, then we had a little bit of rain.”
Mickelson cited an overall lack of preparedness from the players as a reason why they finished so low.
“Our guys just didn’t seem to be prepared,” Mickelson said. “They hit the ball awful and when they hit the ball awful, they did not get up and down very well. All in all, it was just a bad performance.”
The third round, taking place on the second day, had to be delayed a few hours because of frost on the course.
No contestant in the 72-player field finished below par, and three of the 10 first-day rounds from Sun Devils were at least 10-over par.
Because the invitational lasted just two days, each team played 36 holes on the first day.
Freshman Stan Gautier recently was inserted into the starting lineup and finished 30th with a plus-17 three-day tally.
Gautier’s score led ASU for the invitational, a sign of where the rest of the team placed.
“Nobody played well,” Mickelson said. “All five (ASU players) did not play anywhere close to their capabilities.”
Senior Spencer Fletcher and freshman Cameron Palmer each shot plus-21, good for 39th place. Junior Jin Song was one stroke behind them.
Freshman Mathias Schjoelberg shot two strokes behind Song. Schjoelberg had a plus-13, 83 during the first round, which included a four-over on a single hole.
Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu
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