The Sun Devil Men's Golf team opens its season Sept. 12-13 at the Sahalee Players Championship, held at Sahalee Country Club (South/North) in Sammamish, Wash., as the Sun Devils are back-to-back champions.
The par-72 and 7,007-yard course will host Arizona, ASU, Cal, Duke, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, UCLA and Washington, with 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes Sunday.
The history at Sahalee
Arizona State will return to Sahalee Players Invitational for the third consecutive year and has won it the past two seasons, winning the event in fall of 2024 as it shot 7-under 857 (282-284-291), topping Florida by 11 strokes. Last year ASU outlasted third-ranked Texas by one stroke to win the 12-team event.
Preston wins it in 2023
Preston Summerhays shot 5-under 211 (62-67-72) and then beat Max Herendee of Illinois in a playoff to win the 2023 72-player Sahalee Players Championship. The Sun Devils finished second at 7-over 871 (286-296-289), eight shots back of Illinois.
Solid preseason rankings
Golfweek has the Sun Devils second in the preseason, while Golf Channel has the Sun Devils fourth, with four swingers earning preseason All-America honors in some fashion. Florida is the top-ranked team according to Brentley Romine at Golf Channel, followed by Oklahoma State and Auburn. Big 12 members Texas Tech (fifth), BYU (18), Arizona (21) and Utah (30) also are in the top 30.
Sophomore Nguyen Anh Mihn was selected as a third-team All-American along with senior Connor Williams, with sophomore Boston Bracken earning honorable mention. Oscar Couilleau earned first-team Freshman All-America honors.