The 2026 Sun Devil men's golf season is ready to begin. Here are bunch of notes and social media posts to know as the team gets in the first teebox at the end of January.
Connor Williams playing well
Junior Connor Williams capped a wire-to-wire victory at the 15th annual Patriot All -America Invitational in late December. Williams’ final round 4-under 66 on the Wigwam Golf Club Gold Course earned him the title by six strokes at 14-under 196. Both players will take home the prestigious Folded Flag trophies and Bomber Jackets. View the final 2025 Patriot All-America leaderboard here.
“It feels amazing – I look forward to this tournament at winter break, and to come back to my second year and get the win means a lot,” said Williams, a junior from Escondido, Calif., of his second career collegiate win. “I think I was in control of most of my game. I played very smart, some of these pins are very tricky and I think I only made three bogeys all week which is huge, because there's birdies out there but you’ve got to avoid some of those bigger numbers.”
Fifa had a great fall
Sun Devil junior Fifa Laopakdee will be playing in the British Open and the Masters in 2026 after rallying from a six-shot deficit (4-under 68) to win the third playoff hole at the Asia-Pacific Amateur in October. Laopakdee is the first player from Thailand to win the championship that began in 2010. He will also be the first Thai amateur to compete at the Masters. He notched birdie on five holes across the back nine -- including the 17th and 18th -- to force the playoff and ultimately delivered five straight birdies to close out the victory. He also is the second straight Sun Devil to win the event, as Wenyi Ding won the 2024 title. It also marks the third straight year a Sun Devil has won a major amateur title, as in addition to Wing’s 2024 title Josele Ballester won the 2024 U.S. Amateur and the 2023 European Amateur.
Reminder of roster additions
Coach Matt Thurmond already announced that Oscar Couilleau will join the squad in the fall of 2026, and waiting for him on that roster will be fall of 2025 signees Raul Gomez Montalva (Valencia, Spain) and Bryan Newman (Johannesburg, South Africa) who have signed and are ready to go this January as ASU begins its 11-tournament schedule at the Copper Cup in California in late January.
Thomas Sutton to coach in Arnold Palmer Cup
Assistant coaches have been named for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup at Tralee Golf Links and Sun Devil Thomas Sutton will work with head coaches Laura Ianello (Texas) and Trey Jones (Florida State) to lead Team USA. The Ryder Cup-style competition, which features U.S. men’s and women’s collegiate golfers playing side-by-side against a team of their International counterparts, will be played July 3-5. USA leads all-time 15-13-1. Sutton is in his fourth season as associate head men’s coach at Arizona State under 2009 and 2024 Palmer Cup Team USA Head Coach Matt Thurmond. The Sun Devils won the Sahalee Players Championship and The Wohali to open 2025-26 before finishing the fall ranked No. 7 via Scoreboard powered by Clippd. The No. 1 seed a fter stroke play at the 2025 NCAA Championship, Arizona State won three times with seven other top-three finishes in 2024-25, including runner-up at the program 2025 Big 12 Championship Being led on the course by four PING All-Americans, including Palmer Cup alumni Josele Ballester (2022-24) and Preston Summerhays (2023-24), ASU completed the season ranked third. Along with being the fifth four-time All-American in program history, Ballester became the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Amateur in 2024 before being named 2025 Big 12 Player of the Year and 2025 Division I Gary Player International Golfer of the Year presented by FlightScope.
There is more on Thomas Sutton
Thomas Sutton was named recipient of the 2025 NCAA Division I Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award presented by TaylorMade Golf Company. Hired as associate head coach on June 16, 2022, the Montgomery, Ala., native has helped lead the Sun Devils to the No. 1 seed in their NCAA Regional each year, 11 tournament victories, including the 2024 Pac-12 Championship and 2023 NCAA Las Vegas Regional, and consistent top-five national rankings. Eleven PING All-America, 14 PING All-West Region, six GCAA All-America Scholar and six Palmer Cup selections have occurred with Sutton on staff.
Puig making a living
David Puig -- now 24 years young -- claimed the biggest title of his professional career and joined countryman great Seve Ballesteros by winning the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in early December. Puig’s final round 5-under 66 led by early birdies allowed him space in a congested leaderboard, as 31 players were within six shots of the lead at the start of the day. Puig became only the ninth international winner of the event and just the second since 1998, joining compatriot Seve Ballesteros — a former world No. 1 and five-time major champion — who won the tournament in 1981 as the only other Spanish player to claim the title. A two-putt for par on the par-4 18th was enough for a two shot victory over China’s Wenyi Ding -- yes, that Sun Devil -- and his third professional title, but first on the DP World Tour.
Michael Mjaaseth birdies the final
— Sun Devil Men's Golf (@sundevilmgolf) September 8, 2025
hole to give @SunDevilMGolf the Sahalee Players Championship victory for the second year in a row 🏆🏆
A great start to the season 😈
This year's starting five at Sahalee featured three new players from last year's winning lineup ⬇️
4th… pic.twitter.com/Pl2fK8QXVP