Following their third-place finish at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational in Palm City, the Sun Devils won the Thunderbird Collegiate at home for the second straight year.
ASU came into the tournament having won 22 times since 1991, including last season's win in 2023. Junior Preston Summerhays took home the individual championship that year after former Sun Devil James Leow won the tournament in 2022.
While the tournament included teams like No. 8 Washington and No. 9 Arizona, the No. 4 Sun Devils left the course on Saturday with a dominant victory.
Arizona State was 38 under par and 28 under the second-place team. Their performance was the second-best in the tournament's history, trailing three strokes above ASU's 2017 performance.
The Sun Devil’s performance was the largest margin of victory at the Thunderbird Collegiate since 2002. Summerhays also won the individual title for the second year in a row, bringing him his fourth individual title as a Sun Devil.
His repeat win of the Thunderbird Collegiate was the first since Jon Rahm completed a three-peat from 2014-16. The only other Sun Devil to consecutively win the Thunderbird Collegiate was Phil Mickelson in 1991-92.
Summerhays's win puts him in elite company in the ASU record books.
Although Summerhays’ performance was incredible and then some, his teammates also had outstanding performances. ASU's win on Saturday made it its third tournament win this season. This is the fourth time the Sun Devils have reached that milestone since head coach Matt Thurmond was hired by former ASU athletic director Ray Anderson in 2016.
As for graduate student Ryggs Johnston, he competed in his final regular-season tournament on Saturday.
Johnston has been with the program for five years.
His name appears in the ASU record book seven times, including the second-best NCAA championship round and 16th-best season scoring average in 2020-21. While Johnston’s illustrious collegiate career is ending, his performance at the Thunderbird Collegiate ranks as one of his best, as he placed second only two strokes over Summerhays.
His finish at Papago Golf Club was the highest of his five-year career.
Johnston’s previous career high was third place at the NCAA championships in 2021. While Johnston finally cracked his third-place plateau, freshman Wenyi Ding has been no stranger to top-two finishes during his freshman season.
Ding placed second in his first stroke play tournament as a Sun Devil at the National Invitational. Following his impressive finish, Ding made history by winning the Amer Ari Invitational and setting the all-time collegiate record for the lowest score in a 54-hole tournament.
At the Thunderbird Collegiate, Ding tied for third and secured his fourth top-five finish in his collegiate career. Finally, junior Joselle Ballester tied for seventh and became the first Sun Devil to hit a bogey-free round.
The strong finish to the regular-season finale gives hope for a strong postseason. From the Sun Devils' incredible margin of victory to their four top-five individual finishes, ASU has proven themselves worthy of their fourth-place ranking going into the postseason.
Edited by Vinny DeAngelis, Walker Smith and Shane Brennan
Reach the reporter at Gbarberi@asu.edu and follow @Giobarberio1 on X.
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Giovanni is a sophomore studying history. This is his second semester with The State Press.
