April 14, 2013
The Arizona State men’s golf team wrapped up its tournament from San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, sneaking its way into the top ten and placing ninth at the Western Intercollegiate, one stroke behind eighth-placed Oregon. Jon Rahm led the charge for ASU, also cracking the top ten, tying for eighth-place.
Rahm, who began the final round tied for 12th, climbed four spots on the leaderboard during the final 18 holes. He finished at even-par 210 for the tournament after he recorded his second round of 1-under par 69 on Sunday. Rahm was aided by four birdies in the final round, the most he had in any round this weekend. He finished six strokes behind the winner, Pedro Figueiredo of UCLA, but only one stroke behind of fourth-place.
ASU began the day in a tie for 12th-place before making a push into the top ten. They shot 17-over par in Sunday’s final round, fourth-best among all 14 participating schools. The Sun Devils finished at 56-over-par for the tournament, only six strokes behind sixth-place. No school finished under-par, as the champions, No. 1 ranked California, finished at 1-over par despite shooting 10-under on the day.
Austin Quick also continued his solid recent play, finishing second among Arizona State golfers and tying for 33rd in the field. He finished his tournament at 10-over-par. He shot a final round of 5-over-par, but managed back-to-back birdies on holes eight and nine before making the turn to the back nine.
Spencer Lawson jumped eight spots from his starting position, moving up into a tie for 49th. Lawson was 4-over on Sunday, and shot his best round of the tournament, 74, after shooting consecutive rounds of 75 in the first two rounds. Trey Kaahanui, who was tied with Lawson to begin the day, shot a round of 78 which moved him back to 68th.
Freshman Alberto Sanchez made the largest leap of any Sun Devil golfer over the final round, once again finding his form going on to fire a 1-over-par 71, jumping 22 positions on the leaderboard, finishing tied for 55th. He bested both of his first two rounds by six strokes, and only bogeyed the first two holes before playing a clean final 16 holes. He also birdied the par-4 17th.
Next up for the Sun Devils is the Pac-12 Championship, stretching from April 29-31 from Los Angeles, Calif.