After a slow start, the No. 2 ASU men's golf team rebounded behind junior Jon Rahm's regional-winning effort.
ASU (-1) shot a 12-over first round, but had the third-best second round (7-under) and top final round (6-under) to catapult all the way to second in the San Diego regional.
Rahm (-10) won the regional by two strokes over Oklahoma's Max McGreevy and Michael Gellerman. Entering the 18th hole on Saturday, Rahm and McGreevy were tied but Rahm birdied the hole while McGreevy bogeyed it.
Rahm's victory was the seventh of his collegiate career (fourth this season), ranking third all-time in ASU history behind Phil Mickelson (16) and Billy Mayfair (8). He and Stanford's Maverick McNealy are on pace to break the NCAA all-time scoring record.
At times on Saturday, ASU dipped outside the top five needed to qualify for the regional. The front nine was considerably more difficult than final nine holes. On the 18th hole, ASU birdied it twice on Saturday and eagled it twice more.
Junior Max Rottluff (+2) and sophomore Ki Taek Lee finished tied for 18th for the Sun Devils. Rottluff bounced back from a 6-over first round with a 1-under second and 3-under final round. Taek Lee was consistent throughout, shooting a 74-73-71 on the par-72 course.
Sophomore Nicolo Galletti (+8) and junior Alberto Sanchez (+18) rounded out ASU's lineup.
The Sun Devils move on to the NCAA championships from May 29-June 3 in Bradenton, Florida. Stroke play ends on June 1, with match play taking over on June 2 (quarterfinals and semifinals) with the championship June 3.
Considering ASU failed to advance past the region last year, its strong finish in San Diego had to be a sigh of relief heading into NCAAs.
Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter
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