Sun Devils Finish 3rd at Pac-12 Championship; Secure Territorial Cup

By: Kayla Mortellaro

PHOENIX, Ariz.— Arizona State had a nine shot lead heading in to the final round of the Pac-12 Championship held in Pullman, Washington at Palouse Ridge Golf Course.

The weather elements that included a 50 degree day and winds up to 15-25 mph, plus a blistering hot Stanford team contributed to the Sun Devils being surpassed for the title. Stanford won the event finishing -4 (1396) for four days over Oregon, +10 (1410) and ASU in third at +11 (1411).

ASU was considered the favorite heading in to the event as they were the number three ranked team in the nation as well has having the number one ranked amateur in the world, Jon Rahm, on the team.

The six player-count five format is different than most of the team tournament events that usually are played as a five player- count four scores.

Broc Johnson led the way for the Devils shooting scores of 69-72-65-73= 279 to finish in fifth place. Rahm finished tied for sixth (70-68-74-68= 280), Max Rottluff finished tied for 19^th (75-68-67-75= 285), Nicolo Galletti tied for 26^th (70-74-67-76= 287), Ki Taek Lee tied for 31^st (73-70-70-76= 289) and Alberto Sanchez tied for 34^th (72-73-73-72= 290).

The Sun Devils were seeking their 13^th Pac-10/12 title on Washington State’s home course that played 7,257 yards and a par 70.

The Stanford Cardinal surged ahead on the final day with a course-record setting performance by Maverick McNealy. McNealy shot a final round 61 (65-68-68-61= 262) to finish in first place individually and help the Cardinal capture the Pac-12 Championship.

According to the updated rankings by Golfweek, ASU is now the sixth ranked team in the country behind Illinois, Florida State, Texas, Vanderbilt and Stanford.

ASU certainly had high expectations but the third place finish was good enough to seal the Territorial Cup against the University of Arizona, who finished 9^th in the championship. The Sun Devils earned the necessary 10.5 points to gain the bragging rights over the Wildcats for the second consecutive year.

The regular season for the Devils included five team tournament titles, three 2nd place finishes, one 3rd place, one 4th place and one 6th place finish. Individually, the one-two punch for ASU all season long was Rahm and Rotluff. Rahm captured two tournament titles that included the ASU Thunderbird Invitational. Rahm also competed and finished tied for fifth in the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. In addition, Rotluff captured two individual titles and didn’t finish outside the top-20.

The Sun Devils will have to shrug off the disappointment to compete in the NCAA Regional tournament held May14-16. Next up, the NCAA will announce the regional selections May 4 on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Pos.	Team/Player (seed)	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Total
1	Stanford	362	348	346	340	1396
1	Maverick McNealy (1)	65	68	68	61	262
T11	Franklin Huang (6)	73	70	67	71	281
T15	David Boote (2)	75	69	69	70	283
T26	Viraat Badhwar (3)	75	70	74	68	287
T40	Patrick Grimes (5)	74	71	74	72	291
71	Jeffrey Swegle (4)	0	72	68	70	210
2	Oregon	357	360	349	344	1410
2	Aaron Wise (3)	65	70	70	67	272
T6	Zach Foushee (2)	70	74	68	68	280
T19	Brandon McIver (1)	74	74	68	69	285
T23	Jonathan Woo (5)	72	69	71	74	286
T44	Thomas Lim (4)	76	73	72	73	294
52	Nigel Lett (6)	76	74	79	67	296
3	Arizona State	354	351	342	364	1411
5	Broc Johnson (6)	69	72	65	73	279
T6	Jon Rahm (1)	70	68	74	68	280
T19	Max Rottluff (2)	75	68	67	75	285
T26	Nicolo Galletti (3)	70	74	67	76	287
T31	Ki Taek Lee (5)	73	70	70	76	289
T34	Alberto Sanchez (4)	72	73	73	72	290
4	Southern California	355	344	361	357	1417
T6	Sean Crocker (2)	72	68	72	68	280
T17	Rico Hoey (1)	68	74	69	73	284
T23	Jonah Texeira (3)	73	69	73	71	286
T26	Bobby Gojuangco (5)	70	69	76	72	287
T40	Paul Smith (6)	75	67	76	73	291
T44	Eric Sugimoto (4)	72	71	71	80	294
5	Washington	363	353	357	362	1435
T6	Cheng-Tsung Pan (1)	70	70	70	70	280
T13	Corey Pereira (2)	71	69	68	74	282
T34	Frank Garber (4)	73	73	72	72	290
43	Jordan Lu (5)	76	71	76	70	293
T44	Jonathan Sanders (3)	75	71	71	77	294
T54	Chris Babcock (6)	74	72	76	76	298
6	Oregon State	361	357	357	363	1438
T11	Kevin Murphy (2)	68	72	72	69	281
T19	Alex Franklin (1)	68	67	71	79	285
T31	Tyler Carlson (4)	75	73	69	72	289
T49	Conner Kumpula (5)	74	75	73	73	295
53	Brian Jung (3)	79	74	72	72	297
T56	Jonas Liebich (6)	76	71	75	77	299
7	California	359	361	356	364	1440
T6	K.K. Limbhasut (5)	70	69	66	75	280
T13	Shotaro Ban (1)	67	71	73	71	282
T31	Sebastian Crampton (4)	77	71	71	70	289
T34	Keelan Kilpatrick (6)	72	75	71	72	290
T56	Ben Doyle (3)	73	75	75	76	299
72	Alexander Wilson (2)	81	0	79	77	237
8	UCLA	364	358	358	362	1442
T3	Jonathan Garrick (1)	69	72	70	65	276
T23	Manav Shah (6)	72	72	70	72	286
T34	Preston Valder (5)	75	70	71	74	290
T40	Jake Knapp (3)	74	70	73	74	291
T56	Matt Pinizzotto (2)	74	74	74	77	299
68	Brandon Mai (4)	76	87	74	77	314
9	Arizona	372	364	359	351	1446
T3	George Cunningham (1)	71	70	68	67	276
T34	Jacob Kreuz (3)	73	74	72	71	290
T44	Brenden Redfern (4)	72	74	78	70	294
T49	Alex McMahon (2)	77	73	72	73	295
T54	Max Donohue (5)	79	73	76	70	298
T59	Peter Kyo won Koo (6)	79	76	71	74	300
10	Washington State	363	347	366	377	1453
T15	Derek Bayley (3)	69	65	75	74	283
T17	Michael Anderson (2)	67	70	70	77	284
T29	Sang Lee (1)	74	68	73	73	288
T49	Nick Mandell (6)	74	71	74	76	295
62	Brian Mogg (5)	79	73	74	77	303
69	Alex Wagner (4)	80	75	83	84	322
11	Colorado	374	365	361	359	1459
T19	Yannik Paul (3)	72	71	74	68	285
T29	Jeremy Paul (2)	76	74	69	69	288
T34	Philip Juel-Berg (4)	74	73	73	70	290
61	David Oraee (1)	77	75	75	74	301
65	Ethan Freeman (5)	75	75	78	78	306
66	Drew Trujillo (6)	85	72	70	80	307
12	Utah	382	376	382	375	1515
T44	Max McGrail (3)	78	74	71	71	294
T59	Brandon Kida (1)	76	74	75	75	300
63	Jonathon Thomas (2)	74	79	76	75	304
64	Jack Maerki (4)	74	75	78	78	305
67	Steven Croft (5)	80	74	82	76	312
70	Brent Pollock (6)	80	83	93	84	340