Grayhawk Bound: Men's Golf Ties For Second at ABQ Regional
The Sun Devil men's golf team punched its ticket Wednesday to the NCAA Championships to be held at Grayhawk Golf Club May 27-June 2 with a tie for second at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional.
The top five teams advanced as ASU (285-279-284) tied with Oregon State (281-275-292) at 16-under 848. Also punching championship tickets were regional champion Texas Tech (26-under 838), top-ranked Oklahoma (13-under 851) and San Diego (12-under 852). It marks the 56th NCAA Championship appearance for the program, which is fourth-best. ASU has now made the NCAA Finals in the 16 of the past 19 seasons and 34 of past 37.
MOST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES
OKLAHOMA STATE, 73
TEXAS, 66
USC, 58
ARIZONA STATE, 56
Sophomore David Puig, the 2021 Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year, shot 8-under 208 (71-67-70) and tied for eighth, while senior Chun An Yu finished at 6-under 210 (70-70-70) and tied for tenth.
Sophomore Ryggs Johnston came back from a 76 on Tuesday to shoot 1-under 71.
SOME GOOD TEAMS ALWAYS DON'T MAKE IT: The NCAA men's golf regional annually is a time when several possible champion contenders don't make it through to the final. Eight top-30 Golfweek teams did not make the cut: Texas A&M (14), Arizona (16), Auburn (17), North Florida (23), LSU (27), Alabama (28), New Mexico (29) and Baylor (30).
COACH THURMOND REGIONAL NOTE: Coach Thurmond has now reached the NCAA Championship in all four chances at ASU. Since becoming a head coach in 2002, his squads made the NCAA Championship in 16 of his 19 seasons, missing only in 2016, 2011 and 2007.
ABOUT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: Sun Devil fifth-year head coach Matt Thurmond leads the Sun Devils, who under 2008 National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and Pac-12 Coach of the Century Randy Lein won the 1996 team title and won the 1990 title under 2002 ASU Hall of Fame and 2009 NGCA Hall of Fame inductee Steve Loy.
NCAA ALBUQUERQUE REGIONAL
UNM CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE
PAR 72/7,555 YARDS
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
MAY 17-19, 2021
FINAL TEAM SCORES
Texas Tech 283-278-277=838/-26
Arizona State 285-279-284=848/-16
Oregon State 281-275-292=848/-16
Oklahoma 289-284-278=851/-13
San Diego 296-275-281=852/-12
---TOP 5 ADVANCE TO NCAA----
Texas A&M 284-284-285=853/-11
New Mexico 284-287285=853/-11
Stanford 287-285-284=856/-8
South Carolina 285-283-293=861/-3
Boise State 288-291-284=864/E
Nevada 285-292-291=868/+4
New Mexico State 300-293-290=883/+19
Oakland 294-308-298=900/+36
Prairie View A&M 323-313-308=/944/+80
SUN DEVIL INDIVIDUAL LEADER BOARD
1. Ryan Hall, South Carolina 68-69-69=205/-11
8. David Puig 71-67-70=208/-8
T10. Chun An Yu 70-70-70=210/-6
T32. Mason Andersen 72-70-75=217/+1
T40. Ryggs Johnston 72-76-71=219/+3
46. Cameron Sisk 75-72-73=220/+4