Men's Golf heads to Texas for the Ben Hogan Invitational

WESTWORTH VILLAGE, Texas - Next week (Oct. 2-3) the Sun Devils are headed to compete in the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational at Shady Oaks Country Club in Westworth Village, Texas. There will be a shotgun start at 8 a.m. on Monday for 36 holes, on the par 70, 6,885-yard course.

THE LINEUP
Arizona State will send junior Preston Summerhays, junior Josele Ballester, graduate student Ryggs Johnston, sophomore Luke Potter and graduate student Gabe Salvanera to the teebox in Texas.

COMPETING IN COLORADO
Sophomore Michael Mjaaseth, and freshman Connor Williams will be competing at the 13th annual Mark Simpson Invitational hosted by Colorado. The event will be held at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, CO with an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start on Monday at the par-72, 7,787-yard club.

TEAMS COMPETING
The teams competing are North Carolina, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas, Pepperdine, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Georgia, Oregon, Wake Forest, and TCU.

COURSE HISTORY
Shady Oaks Country Club was opened in 1958 by Marvin Leonard. With golf legend Ben Hogan opposed to the project, Leonard continued on with the construction of the course. Redesigned in 1995, the course maintains its original layout located in the west hills of Fort Worth. Surrounded by 100-year-old oak trees, Shady Oaks offers rolling bent grass fairways that lead up to bent grass greens. The par-71, 6,855 yard course is one of the best in Texas, and even hosted the 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.

LAST WEEK
The Sun Devils were in Illinois at the Fighting Illini Championship last weekend where they played a good couple days of golf.  Due to weather, the team was unable to finish the final round but still tied for fifth overall at the tournament. Josele Ballester was Arizona State's highest finisher after tying for eighth. 

LAST TIME AT SHADY OAKS
In 2022, the Sun Devils tied for third with Pepperdine to finish 5-under overall for the tournament. Preston Summerhays finished tied for eighth individually with an overall tournament score of 207 (75-63-69).

BRIGHT BALLESTER
After going 2-under to shoot 69 on both days of tournament play, Ballester was ASU's lowest scoring finisher to tie for eighth individually. Ballester was the 2023 European Amateur Champion, that included going 10-under in his first round. Over the summer, he played in The Open, his first major appearance and just barely missed the cut by two strokes. 

JUBILANT JOHNSTON
Graduate Ryggs Johnston shot 3-under 139 (72-67). In the second round, he finished 3-under to set himself up for another day of play; however, with the final round canceled, he ended up tied for 13th.  While he was home in Montana for the summer, Johnston won a USGA qualifier to gain entry to the 123rd U.S. Amateur. He finished 13-under for the tournament and went bogey free. 

LIVELY LUKE
Shooting 71-69 at the Fighting Illini Championship, Luke Potter was even for the tournament and tied for 18th individually. Ranked 52nd overall according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Potter consistently proves himself at tournaments by providing a steady score and a confident swing. 

MAGNIFICENT MJAASETH
Junior Michael Mjaaseth finished tied for 37th after shooting 144 (73-71) during the first two rounds of tournament play. Mjaaseth posted the all-time Sun Devil freshman best stroke average of 70.72 and was Golfstat's 5th ranked freshmen. 

PRECISE PRESTON
While ASU was up in Illinois, Preston Summerhays was in Napa Valley playing in the Fortinet Championship. After winning the Sahalee Players Championship in September, he earned a spot to compete this past weekend. Finishing 4-under for the tournament, Summerhays tied for 56th overall and made ASU proud. 

LOOKING FORWARD
Later this month (Oct. 9-10), Arizona State will head east to compete in the Williams Cup in Wilmington, N.C. Hosted by UNC at Eagle Point Golf Club, ASU will join Auburn, Elon, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, NC State, UNCW, and North Florida at the tournament.