No. 24 ASU (11-under 853) finished in third place at the Bill Cullum Invitational at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif. With their third place finish, the Sun Devils are now 56-7-1 in head-to-head competition. Cal State Fullerton (15-under 849) won the tournament.
Despite their third-place finish, coach Tim Mickelson was highly critical of the team's performance.
"I'm not thrilled about finishing third because we should have won that tournament," said Mickelson. "We had the most talented team there but we didn't play up to our capabilities, not even close. It's disappointing to be honest."
Sophomore Jon Rahm (9-under 207) led the Sun Devils in the event, finishing tied for second place. He shot 13 birdies during the event and finished one shot behind Daniel Chian (10-under 206) of Long Beach State for the individual title.
Rahm is having an impressive collegiate career so far. Out of his 58 rounds of play in his 19-tournament career, his score has counted 57 times. He has also shot par or better in 32 of those rounds, with 19 rounds in the 60s.
Coach Mickelson said he was impressed by Rahm's performance.
"Jon hit the ball well this week but struggled on the greens," said Mickelson. "If he putted like he usually does, he probably wins the tournament by six shots. But to be able to finish second without being on his 'A' game shows how talented he is."
Other Sun Devil finishes were freshman Nicolo Galletti (even-216) tied for 19th, sophomore Alberto Sanchez (1-over 217) and junior Broc Johnson (1-over 217) tied for 23rd and junior Austin Quick (4-over 220) tied for 35th.
ASU finishes up its fall schedule at the Hawaii Kauai Invitational from Nov. 4 through Nov. 6 in Princeville, Hawaii.
Coach Mickelson said that if they want to win in Hawaii, their putting needs to get better.
"If we work hard between now and when we leave, we should be ready to contend," Mickelson said.
Reach the reporter at Avery.Feyrer@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @coffeeblack
