TEMPE, Ariz. -- Under first-year head coach Missy Farr-Kaye, the Arizona State women's golf program accomplished an individual championship, two All-American honors and an NCAA Championship qualifier.
The Sun Devils were ranked as high as No. 9 in the country as a team, while freshman Linnea Strom finished the season ranked No. 6 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and junior Monica Vaughn ranked No. 14.
Here's a look back at all that was accomplished as a team during the 2015-16 season under Farr-Kaye and first-year assistant coach and ASU alumna Tiffany Tavee:
GOLFWEEK CONFERENCE CHALLENGE - September 2015
The Sun Devils started and finished the season with the same five starters, as injuries left them shorthanded for the entirety of the season. That didn't stop the Devils -- who started two freshmen and two sophomores all year -- from making the most of what they had. The first tournament of the fall season got the jitters out and showed the future potential of the ASU program.
By the end of the first tournament, Farr-Kaye's Devils rallied for a third-place finish. Vaughn continued on the tear from her sophomore season, shooting the best score of the entire tournament with a five-under 67 and ended up tying for second place. Rookie Madison Kerley showed composure as she completed her first collegiate tournament with a top-10 finish in a tie for 8th.
WINDY CITY CLASSIC - October 2015
Once again, the Devils finished the final round of a tournament on a high note, shooting 8-under on day three of the Windy City Classic for another top-five finish in a tie for fourth and just one stroke off a tie for the top spot. They also finished ahead of top-ranked programs USC, Oklahoma State and Florida.
Kerley once again had another stellar performance, shooting a season-low, four-under 68 on the second and third day to finish in a tie for 6th -- giving her back-to-back top-10 finishes in her first two collegiate tournaments. Her freshman counterpart, Linnea Strom, also put together a top-10 finish with a then-career low 69 in the second round. For the second-straight tournament, sophomore Roberta Liti tied her career-low with a two-under 70 on the final day.
STANFORD INTERCOLLEGIATE - October 2015
While Stanford wasn't the team's best performance of the season, the Devils continued to battle despite the situation. Vaughn, Strom and Liti all put together better rounds on the final two days to move up the leaderboard. The team finished in 11th out of the 17 participating programs, with only one finishing under par. It became the first learning curve for ASU, and they only built off the mistakes as the uphill climb started there.
PAC-12 PREVIEW - November 2015
That progression never shined brighter than the Devils next tournament in Kailua Kona, Hawaii for the Pac-12 Preview. The young guns showed they could compete with any team in arguably the best women's golf conference in the country, as they finished in second place with an 8-over 884 just behind then-No. 3 UCLA by seven strokes.
Strom -- who was then unranked -- had her coming out party, as she placed second individually behind No. 88 Charlotte Thomas of Washington. She also finished four strokes ahead of No. 2 Bronte Law of UCLA, a foreshadowing of what was to come at the Pac-12 Championships. The freshman shot a bogey-free, five-under 68, which was tied for the lowest round of the tournament, to move up the leaderboard on the final day. It was also her best collegiate round at the time. Vaughn also tallied another top-10 finish in a tie for 8th with a one-over 220.
SUN DEVILS SIGN NORTHERN IRELAND'S OLIVIA MEHAFFEY - November 2015
As if the young roster wasn't already making waves, the Sun Devil program got another boost of youth and a glimpse of what's to come for years to come. The No. 2 ranked player in the European Golf Rankings and No. 8 ranked World Amateur Olivia Mehaffey signed her letter of intent for the 2016-17 season in November, giving the ASU program three of the top-16 ranked amateurs in the world (Strom at No. 7 and Vaughn at No. 16). Since April of 2015, Mehaffey has won five tournaments overseas including the 2015 Scottish Ladies Open Championship, the 2015 Welsh Ladies Open Championship, the 2016 Irish Women's Championship and the 2016 Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship. She also has tacked on another five top-four finishes along with those victories.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN REGIONAL CHALLENGE - February 2016
The start of the spring season couldn't have gone much better for junior Monica Vaughn, as she won her first outright tournament with a 4-under 209. The field was the toughest the Devils would face all season, as Vaughn finished ahead of the top-three ranked players in the country in No. 1 Leona Maguire of Duke, No. 2 Karen Chung of USC and No. 3 Bronte Law of UCLA. Her final round featured the best round of her career with a six-under 65, which also tied for the second-lowest round in ASU program history. Farr-Kaye called it, "one of the best rounds I have ever seen in the 14 years of this tournament."
As a team, the No. 13 Devils finished in seventh out of 16 of the best teams in the country.
BRUIN WAVE INVITATIONAL - March 2016
Yet again, the Sun Devils put together another top performance as a team against some of the top-ranked teams in the country on another tough course. ASU finished second behind No. 6 UCLA and ahead of four teams ranked ahead of the No. 15 Devils.
Individually, Vaughn and Strom put together another top-10 performance with the Swedish rookie moving up the leaderboard on the final day with a three-under 69. But the Devil who played the best golf and had arguably the best tournament of her young career was sophomore Sophia Zeeb. Entering the final round in a tie for second, Zeeb fell victim to signing an incorrect scorecard after the final round and was disqualified per USGA rules. Zeeb would have ultimately finished in a tie for second, which would have been her best finish of her collegiate career. Despite the disqualification, it didn't take away Zeeb putting together a career-best, two-under 70 on the first day and back-to-back par rounds to end the tournament.
"I think it's important to remember that anyone can make that mistake," Farr-Kaye said. "But you need to learn from it and never make it again. I think our team will from here on make sure that they triple check their scorecards before turning them in."
VAUGHN NAMED FEBRUARY'S PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE MONTH
After her first outright outright tournament victory in February and her career-best five-under 65, it was a no brainer that Vaughn would win February's conference women's golfer of the month. She became the first ASU player to win the award since Noemi Jimenez in March of 2014. In just over a month, Vaughn also shot up the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking, moving all the way up to No. 14. Also in February, Vaughn was one of eight women to be selected to the 2016 USA Curtis Cup team, becoming the first Sun Devil to be named to the team since Jennifer Johnson in 2010 and just the second in the last 15 years.
ARIZONA WILDCAT INVITATIONAL - March 2016
For the third time during the 2015-16 season, Farr-Kaye's Devils earned a second-place finish as they combined for a four-over 868. That result stemmed from Strom and Vaughn finishing second and third overall. It became Strom's second tournament she finished as a runner-up, but was her best combined finish over three rounds with a six-under 210. The five-under 67 on day one was also her best round to date at the time. Vaughn finished the tournament strong in Tucson, ending her three days with a four-under 68 to move into third after starting the day in ninth. She totaled just one bogey on her final round with five birdies.
SDSU MARCH MAYHEM MATCH-PLAY TOURNAMENT - March 2016
The Sun Devils got in the March Madness mood by participating in the rare match-play format hosted by San Diego State. After winning their first match against #12 seed UC-Davis, the 5-seeded Devils moved on to face 4-seed Stanford. While they didn't finish the match that was delayed until the second day, they moved to the consolation bracket where they defeated 8-seed Oregon -- ranked No. 22 in the country. They would place sixth overall in the tournament after dropping the final match to host and No. 17 San Diego State 3-1-1.
PING/ASU INVITATIONAL - April 2016
Arguably one of their best tournament performances of the season, the Devils finished second for the fourth time on the year and the third time behind UCLA. ASU shot six-under 858 as a team and was led by Strom's third-place finish at five-under 211 for her fifth top-10 finish in eight tournaments. After a heartbreaker of a finish just over a month prior, Zeeb bounced back with a top-10 finish in a tie for 9th thanks to a 2-over 218 performance.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS - April 2016
The newly ranked No. 10 Sun Devils entered the first championship weekend showing their youth and lack of championship experience didn't matter. A 13-under 851 gave the program their highest finish in the Pac-12 Championship since 2009. The Devils also finished ahead of No. 11 Arizona for the Territorial Cup Series® point and move the magic number to one (which the men's golf team clinched a week later).
On the individual side, the Devils had their first Pac-12 Individual Champion since Carlota Ciganda won her second-straight title in 2010. Not only did freshman Linnea Strom win in her first-ever conference championship appearance, but she also set the Pac-12 Championship 54-hole record with an 11-under 205. The Swedish rookie shot a career-best six-under 66 to win the title by one stroke and complete the rally from four strokes down entering the final round. Her 205 over the three days tied for the second-best combined score in ASU program history. Vaughn finished in a tie for 5th after a three-under 69 on the final day as well.
VOLLSTEDT NAMED PAC-10/12 COACH OF THE CENTURY, 4 NAMED TO TEAM
The Pac-12 Conference named ASU hall of fame coach Linda Vollstedt as the Coach of the Century, while also naming hall of fame student-athletes Heather Farr, Wendy Ward, Grace Park and Danielle Ammaccapane to the 12-member All-Century roster.
In Vollstedt's 21-year tenure at Arizona State, she led the Sun Devils to six NCAA Championships -- more than any other program in the country, at the time, and the only program to win three in a row -- nine conference championships and four individual national championships. She also coached 41 All-Americans, 12 conference medalists, 71 All-Conference golfers, 15 Academic All-Americans and 11 U.S. Amateur and Public Links Champions. Also under her leadership, Vollstedt coached the only undefeated golf team in NCAA history in 1995. The team finished first or tied for first in every tournament en route to the program's third-straight title. Vollstedt also earned numerous coaching awards while at ASU, including five-time Golfweek National Coach of the Year award, three-time NGCA Coach of the Year, four-time Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year and six-time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year.
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STROM NAMED WOMEN'S PAC-12 GOLFER OF THE MONTH
After her stellar performance at the Pac-12 Championships, PING/ASU Invitational and Wildcat Invitational, Strom was the clear-cut choice for the conference golfer of the month. She finished first, third and second respectively and had six top-10 finishes in her nine collegiate tournaments to that point. It becomes the first time the program has had two Golfer of the Month Award's in the same season since the Pac-12 started the honor in 2011.
NCAA BATON ROUGE REGIONAL - May 2016
While the Devils didn't qualify for the NCAA Championships as a team, Strom did qualify as an individual after tying for 7th at the regionals. The rookie -- ranked No. 15 in the country by Golfstat.com -- had to be one of the top three players not on one of the low six teams in the tournament, and was in fourth with just two holes remaining. As she did at the Pac-12 Championships, a late birdie and clutch putt helped her move up two spots, eventually qualifying her for the championships in Eugene, Ore. from May 20-25.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - May 2016
Only the top nine individuals not on a qualifying team advanced through Sunday, and Strom unfortunately missed the cut by just four spots and two strokes. Strom turned in a four-over 220 after her three rounds with a low round of par-72. Over the three days, Strom tied for ninth in pars made with 35 and added another eight birdies in total. She was also one of the best on the par-5's over the weekend, combining to go four-under over the four holes in her three rounds. Only 12 of the 132 golfers finished under par on the par-4's over the three days.
STROM, VAUGHN NAMED WGCA ALL-AMERICANS
The Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-Americans were announced at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship, and freshman Linnea Strom was one of the 11 golfers who earned First-Team All-American honors. Junior Monica Vaughn was named Second-Team All-American, becoming her second-straight All-American honor after being named a First-Team All-American in 2015. The two became the 75th and 76th All-American selections in ASU program history, and the first time since 2010 that two Sun Devils have earned second-team honors or better in the same season.
LITI & VAUGHN EARN PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC FIRST-TEAM HONORS
Sophomore Roberta Liti and junior Monica Vaughn were honored with First-Team merits, making ASU one of two schools with multiple selections. Liti also held the second-highest GPA of the entire first-team roster with a 3.94. It becomes the second-straight year Vaughn has earned First-Team honors and fifth-straight year the Sun Devil women's program has had two or more student-athletes on the list as well. Along with Liti and Vaughn, sophomore Sophia Zeeb made the honorable mention list as well for ASU.