Campeones!!! @SunDevilMGolf Wins Cabo Collegiate With Great Final Round

Down a few strokes, the Arizona State men's golf team -- playing without senior All-American Chun An Yu, as he will compete in the Arnold Palmer Invitational March 5-8 -- didn't let a chance to win one of the best tournaments in men's college golf slip away this year.

The Sun Devils got 3-under-68s from freshman David Puig, sophomore Cameron Sisk and freshman Ryggs Johnston and jumped 36-hole leader Arizona in tough wind to take an 8-stroke victory at 20-under-par 832 (281-277-274). Their third-round total of 274 was 10-under-par. Arizona State and Texas A&M were the only teams to break par in the windiest conditions of the three-day event.

"The last two years, we had a chance to win and Oklahoma State beat us both times," said Arizona State coach Matt Thurmond, who earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2019 as his teams have won 12 tournaments since he arrived in Tempe. "We are so excited to finally hold the trophy. That round today was beyond what I could have expected," Thurmond said.

The ASU counting scores by Johnston, a freshman from Libby, Mont.; Puig, a freshman from Spain; Sisk, a sophomore from San Diego, Calif., and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2019 were completed by a 1-under 70 from junior Mason Andersen, of Chandler, Ariz.

Cabo Collegiate 2020 from Dino Gomez on Vimeo.

The Sun Devils, who were in third place through 36 holes, made an early move as Puig logged four birdies in his first six holes and Sisk was 3-under through two holes with a birdie-eagle start.

"It was huge for our team to have a couple of hot starts," Sisk said. "It put us in a good position for the rest of the round. I didn't really know where we were, but I knew it was a big boost for our team and me individually."

SUN DEVIL TEAM WINS UNDER MATT THURMOND (12)
Cabo Collegiate/March 1-3, 2020
Trinity Forest Invitational (Sept. 22-24, 2019)
Maui Jim Intercollegiate/Sept. 13-15, 2019
ASU Thunderbird Collegiate/April 12-13, 2019
National Invitational Tournament/Mar. 18-19, 2019
Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic/Mar. 11-12, 2019
John Burns Intercollegiate/Feb. 21-23, 2019
ASU Thunderbird Invitational/April 14-15, 2018
Bandon Dunes Intercollegiate/March 11-13, 2018
Maui Jim Intercollegiate/September 22-24, 2017
ASU Thunderbird Invitational/March 18-19, 2017
Alister MacKenzie Invitational/Oct. 10-11, 2016

 

Great win at the @CaboCollegiate this week. We've always really wanted to win this event. All five guys finished between 8th and 14th. It was an all around great week for @sundevilmgolf in Cabo! ???? pic.twitter.com/84LI1DfkBB

— Matt Thurmond (@MattThurmond) March 4, 2020

Vanderbilt was third at 842 and Arizona, the leader through 36 holes, finished fourth at 847 and Baylor was fifth at 849.

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COACH MATT THURMOND

• "When we got up this morning and the wind was whipping, we thought maybe because it's an hour earlier and this does this every day, but we checked the wind report and it said 13-15 throughout the day. When we got to the course it was well over that. The guys were excited about it. They said: 'This is what we need because there are a lot of teams bunched together.' Things separate more when there are tough conditions. They were having fun on the driving range."
• (On Puig and Sisk) "It was great jump start for us. We started on the same holes every day. To play the easier holes today with the heavy wind and get some good momentum was a good break for us."
• "We are missing our top player Kevin Yu and we are better with him of course. But it was a special challenge for us. These are the guys who maybe people don't know as much. They wanted to make sure they did their part." 
• "Every year we build our schedule around this event. Our guys get up for it. It's a great field with teams from different parts of the country that we don't see all the time. It's an ultimate challenge for us."

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Your Arizona State Sun Devils are the 2020 @CaboCollegiate Champions! pic.twitter.com/tdNaD4f2JF

— Sun Devil Men's Golf (@sundevilmgolf) March 4, 2020

SOPHOMORE CAMERON SISK (2019 PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR)

• (on playing in the wind) "It's not really something I am used to, but I like playing in the wind. The harder it gets, the better I play. It narrows your focus on every shot."

2020 CABO COLLEGIATE FINAL TEAM LEADERBOARD
CABO DEL SOL OCEAN
LOS CABOS, MEXICO
PAR 71/6,807 YARDS/15 TEAMS
MARCH 1-3, 2020/75 PLAYERS
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Arizona State 281-277-274=832/-20
2. Texas A&M 286-276-278=840/-12
3. Vanderbilt 282-274-286=842/-10
4. Arizona 278-275-294=847/-5
5. Baylor 278-283-288=849/-3

2020 CABO COLLEGIATE INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
1. Walker Lee, Texas A&M 71-70-64=205/-8
T7. Mason Andersen 69-70-70=209/-4
T10. David Puig 73-69-68=210/-3
T10. Cameron Sisk 73-69-69=210/-3
T10.  Blake Wagoner 67-69-74=210/-3
T14. Ryggs Johnston 72-71-68=211/-2
 

BLAKE WAGONER SEVEN TOP-10 FINISHES
Cabo Collegiate (Mar. 1-3, 2020) 67-69-74=210/-3/T-10th (75)
Southwestern Intercollegiate (Jan. 27-28, 2020) 70-74-72=216/E/T-8th (71)
Mea Lanakila Individual (Sept. 13-15, 2019) 74-70-68=212/-4/T-5th (35)
Lamkin Grips SD Classic (Mar. 11-12, 2019) 71-71-74=216/E/T-10th (91)
Querencia Cabo Collegiate (Mar. 3-5, 2019) 66-75-69=210/-3/T-10th (71)
Marquette Intercollegiate (Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2018) 73-75-68/E/9th (72)
ASU Thunderbird Invitational (April 14-15, 2018) 69-68-68=205/-8/4th (85)
ASU Thunderbird Invitational (March 18-19, 2017) 67-63-72=202/-11/4th (84)