Before the Pac-12 men’s golf tournament even begins on Monday in Pullman, Washington, ASU already holds the record for most Pac-12/10 conference championships with 12.
The Sun Devils will look to extend that record as they head into the Pac-12 tournament as the highest ranked team in the conference.
The No. 3-ranked Sun Devils will be one of only two teams in the Pac-12 tournament ranked inside the top 10 of Golfstat’s college rankings. No. 8 Oregon is the only other team to crack the top 10.
Three other teams competing (No. 12 Washington, No. 13 Stanford and No. 14 UCLA) are also in the top 15. A total of seven current top-25 teams are in the Pac-12.
Six Sun Devils will be competing this week but as per the conference tournament rules, only the five lowest scores in any given round will count toward the team score.
There are no surprises in the lineup being sent to Pullman with juniors Jon Rahm and Max Rottluff earning their usual first and second spots. Sophomore Nicolo Galletti will be playing from the third spot, junior Alberto Sanchez will be playing fourth, sophomore Ki Taek Lee and senior Broc Johnson will round out the lineup for the Sun Devils this week.
Rahm and Rottluff will both be playing in their third conference tournament of their Sun Devil careers. As a freshman, Rahm finished in the top 10 individually finishing with a 5-over 285 but at last year’s tournament Rahm managed just a 13-over 301 to finish in 36th.
Like his teammate, Rottluff played impressively at the conference tournament as a freshman but was less than impressive at last year’s event. As a freshman, Rottluff managed a seventh place finish shooting a 2-over 282 but his 10-over 298 at last year’s event was only good for 28th place.
Both golfers are playing as well as any college player in the country right now. Rottluff is on a streak of three straight top-10 finishes and Rahm has not finished outside of the top 10 in any event since the Alister Mackenzie Invitational in October.
Galletti has had three top-10 finishes this year while Lee and Sanchez have both recorded just one. Johnson won the Loyola Golf Invite in February, an event he participated in by himself.
While ASU does hold the record for most conference titles in golf in the Pac-12, they have not actually won the event since 2008. They have finished in the top 10 in the past two years but have not had as good of a chance to win the event under coach Tim Mickelson as they do this season.
As the highest ranked team going in, the Sun Devils will be the clear-cut favorites but there is a lot of talent in the conference. A total of 16 Pac-12 golfers competing this week hold spots in the top-100 rankings.
If the Sun Devils do fail to get their 13th conference championship this week, they still can have the consolation of clinching a point in the Territorial Cup Series if they can finish ahead of the Arizona Wildcats.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow @bill_slane on Twitter.
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