![[year first name lastname] grins after sinking a putt in the Thunderbird Invitational tournament on Saturday, April 4, 2015 at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/asp/bd792ee6-2aca-4b94-ac9e-17543174d0c0.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000)
Magic and Kareem. Montana and Rice. Maris and Mantle. Jordan and Pippen. The list of great duos in sports goes on and on.
ASU has its own great sports duo, and it’s not on the baseball team, the basketball team or even the football team. ASU’s great duo is on the school’s best team at the moment: the golf team.
The ASU men’s golf team is No. 4 in the Golf Coaches Association of America’s poll and No. 5 in Golfweek’s team rankings. It won five tournaments this season and has not finished outside of the top-five in any tournament since September.
In coach Tim Mickelson’s fourth year as the team’s leader, he has turned the program back into a national force, but even he will tell you it’s easy to coach a team with two of the best amateurs in the country, including the top-ranked amateur in the world.
Juniors Jon Rahm and Max Rottluff have dominated college golf this year. Rahm has won two tournaments this year with ASU, both coming after his individual win last year at the World Amateur Team Championships where he represented his home nation of Spain. Rahm’s 68.63 stroke average is not only the best in the nation but also the best in ASU history, better even than ASU legend Phil Mickelson.
Rahm’s dominant year on the golf course was showcased at a national level when he was given the chance to play in the 2015 Phoenix Open. Rahm, the only amateur in the field, finished in the top-five with a 12-under par just three strokes behind the event’s winner.
Rahm, who they call “Rahmbo,” is ranked as the best amateur player in the world by the World Amateur Golf Rankings. And his Sun Devil career is not even over just yet.
While Rahm was getting ready to play in the Phoenix Open, Rottluff was getting his second tournament win of the season at the Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson. Rottluff has not been getting as much attention as his teammate, but like some of those famous duos in sports, he is critical to the team’s success.
Since getting his first win of the spring season he has finished in the top-10 five times and twice finished second to his teammate Rahm.
“When you have two guys that can basically help carry a team, you can win championships,” Mickelson said. “I think that’s what you’ve been able to see out of both Jon and Max.”
The scores that the two Sun Devils have been able to shoot during tournaments this season are the clear-cut biggest factor into the team’s success this year. But with only three seniors on the team, and not all of them playing in every tournament, Rahm and Rottluff are also the most veteran leaders on and off the course.
“They’re able to lead us each and every week and that gives us a chance to win,” Mickelson said. “Just like those dynasties in basketball, every single game they had a chance to win because of those guys.”
Rahm has six tournament wins in his Sun Devil career compared to Rottluff’s two. The competitiveness of the two roommates pushes them to do even greater things on the course.
“It’s a very friendly competitive relationship,” Mickelson said. “They’re good friends, they live together. But certainly once they get on the golf course they don’t like to lose to each other.”
Rottluff has topped his friend only once this season, at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in October. Rottluff won the event with a 9-under 204 while Rahm finished tied for 20th with a 1-over 214.
The postseason in coming up next for the Sun Devils with the Pac-12 Championships starting April 27. The Sun Devils will likely be favorites going into that tournament and it is in large part thanks to Rahm and Rottluff.
The two Sun Devils will be fighting for the best score and to help their team win. Afterward, they will move to the NCAA tournaments and while anything can happen in situations like those, it will be a safe bet that ASU will be in the running at the end.
ASU is no longer a football school or baseball school, and it's certainly not a basketball school. Right now, it is a golf school with two of the best players in the world. ASU is home to the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the college golf world and fans need to start appreciating it before they head to bigger and better things.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow @bill_slane on Twitter.
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